The AIADMK on Monday, May 22, 2023 demanded a CBI inquiry into the liquor tragedy that killed 14 persons in Villupuram district and eight in Chengalpattu district last week.
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In a memorandum to Governor R.N. Ravi, AIADMK leaders, led by the party’s general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, alleged that the deaths were due to the DMK government’s administrative inefficiency and the involvement of members of the ruling party in the sale of illicit liquor.
In Thoothukudi district, a Village Administrative Officer was murdered by the sand mafia. In Salem, another VAO, who tried to stop illegal sand smuggling, was murderously attacked, the party said, demanding a CBI probe into these incidents, too.
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The AIADMK requested the Governor, the constitutional head, to obtain an explanation for the audio tape in which a voice, attributed to former Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, was heard saying the party’s first family was amassing wealth.
The Minister had questioned the authenticity of the audio clip, but had given delayed, generic responses to the charges, the AIADMK said. As the DMK government could not be expected to conduct a fair probe, the Governor should obtain an explanation from it and hand over the investigation to a Central agency, it added.
The AIADMK sought a proper inquiry into the functioning of G Square, a real estate company; Red Giant Movies, a film production company; and the alleged irregularities in Tasmac perpetrated by a group described in the memorandum as ‘Karur Company’, which was allegedly close to the Excise Minister. The irregularities in Tasmac amounted to ₹5,000 crore, the memorandum alleged.
The party also alleged corruption in the Greater Chennai Corporation and the Electricity, Rural Development, Mining, Health and HR&CE Departments. The memorandum flagged law and order issues like chain snatching, murder of elderly people and easy availability of narcotics. It noted that those who had mixed faeces in the overhead water tank at Vengaivayal village in Pudukottai district were yet to be identified.
Addressing the media outside the Raj Bhavan, Mr. Palaniswami said the Governor had agreed to carefully go through the memorandum. He alleged that the inefficiency of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had led to two more deaths in Thanjavur “due to spurious liquor”, and demanded that the post-mortem be done at Jipmer in Puducherry.