Personnel of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption conducted simultaneous day-long raids on houses belonging to former Labour Welfare Minister T.M.Anbarasan and his relatives on Thursday.
Eight teams from DVAC conducted the raids at 13 locations in Kunrathur, Mr. Anbarasan's hometown in addition to Saidapet, Kancheepuram, Perungudi, and Porur and Ramapuram in the city's western suburbs.
At Kunrathur, separate teams swooped down on Mr. Anbarasan's house on Thulukkar Street, in addition to the houses of his younger brother T.M.Ezhilarasan and younger sisters Kanimozhi and Kanmani, all on the same street. Teams also raided the house of Thenmozhi, another younger sister in Saidapet. The houses of his brothers-in-law Tirunavukkarasu and Sivashanmugham in Puduvattaaram, Kunrathur were also raided.
A separate team raided the house of his daughter Lavanya in Kancheepuram and a house in Ramapuram belonging to M.Palani, father-in-law of A.Thamizharasan, son of Mr. Anbarasan. The house of S.V.Ravichandran, a close friend of the former Minister, in Perungudi, was also raided.
The teams reached the houses of Mr. Anbarasan and his relatives before 8 a.m. and continued their search even late in the evening. While DVAC sources were tight-lipped about the raids, all they said was that they had recovered some documents.
The simultaneous raids were made after an enquiry was conducted into allegations that Mr. Anbarasan had accumulated wealth disproportionate to known sources of his income and that there was a “prima facie” case against him.
As information about the raids spread, supporters of Mr. Anbarasan belonging to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam flocked to his house and raised slogans against the government. They said the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government was foisting cases against former Ministers.
They, however, left after some time.
Later in the evening, the crowds swelled again. Personnel from Kunrathur police station and constables of Armed Reserve pushed back the crowd to neighbouring Sanduveli Amman Koil Street. According to the party workers, during his tenure as Labour Welfare Minister, Mr. Anbarasan attached top priority to transparency in administration. Malar M.Karunanidhi, youth wing secretary of the party of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, said that Mr. Anbarasan would take severe note of misbehaviour by his party cadre. Elected from Alandur Assembly Constituency in 2006, Mr. Anbarasan is former two-time Chairman of Kunrathur Town Panchayat and is also the district secretary of his party.
