The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked former AIADMK Ministers S.P. Velumani and C. Vijayabaskar in two different cases. The two are the sitting MLAs from Thondamuthur and Viralimalai respectively.
Agency sleuths conducted simultaneous searches on the premises of both politicians and their associates in different locations across the State on Tuesday.
The allegation against Mr. Velumani, the former Minister for Municipal Administration and Water Supply, and nine others, against whom the agency registered a criminal case, is that he awarded contracts injudiciously to companies associated to him, causing the exchequer a loss of ₹500 crore.
The work pertained to the replacement of the existing street lights with LED lights in rural areas across the State between 2015 and 2018.
After booking the accused persons under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the Indian Penal Code, the DVAC conducted searches at 31 places in different locations (9 in Chennai, 14 in Coimbatore, 2 in Tiruchi and 3 each in Tiruvallur and Chengalpet districts).
The DVAC had in October last year conducted simultaneous searches at the houses of Mr. Vijayabaskar in Pudukottai district and other places in the State after booking a disproportionate assets case against him and his wife.
The DVAC said in a statement that ₹32.98 lakh, 1,228 grams of gold jewellery, 948 grams of silver articles and 10 four-wheelers were “identified” during the searches. As many as 316 incriminating documents relating to the allegations and two locker keys were seized.
Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption conducting search operations at the residence of former Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani at Coimbatore on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
The search at Mr. Velumani’s residence at Sugunapuram in Coimbatore lasted nearly nine hours from 7 a.m. The DVAC also searched the residences of T. Chandraprakash near CODISSIA and R. Chandrasekar at Vadavalli, and places linked to CR Constructions.
After the search at his residence, Mr. Velumani told presspersons, “This is the third time that the DVAC conducted searches in my house, and found nothing. The replacement of ordinary lights with LED lights was a flagship scheme introduced by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The scheme was carried out in compliance with guidelines, and there were no discrepancies.”
Mr. Velumani alleged that the DMK government, led by M.K. Stalin, had been framing “fabricated charges” and conducting searches for political vendetta. “After the death of Jayalalithaa in 2016, senior Ministers and I played a key role in breaking the conspiracy created by the DMK to destabilise the AIADMK government of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. For this, I am targeted,” he said.
Claiming massive corruption by the DMK government, he said these searches were aimed at diverting the attention of people from the exorbitant increase in electricity tariff and property tax. “The raids conducted at a few other places in the State were not connected to my associates, and I had no link with them,” Mr. Velumani claimed.
He also alleged that the DMK government had failed to fulfil the election promises. “Instead of concentrating on the issues such as proliferation of ganja and breakdown of law and order, the government is using the police against AIADMK workers.”
In the morning, AIADMK MLAs Amman K. Arjunan, V.P. Kandasamy, A.K. Selvaraj, P.R.G. Arunkumar, S. Damodaran, Amul Kandasamy and K.R. Jayaram, and a large number of party workers gathered in front of Mr. Velumani’s residence to express their solidarity. All of them were detained by the police. The MLAs were released later.
Based on a complaint by M. Appavu (the current Assembly Speaker) in 2019, the Special Investigation Cell of the DVAC, Chennai, registered a case on September 12, 2022, against Mr. Velumani and his close aides.
‘Norms violated’
The DVAC booked Mr. Vijayabaskar on the charge of issuing Essentiality Certificate fraudulently to Vels Medical College and Hospital. The agency conducted searches at 13 places, including 5 in Chennai and 3 in Salem, and “identified” ₹18.37 lakh, 1,872 grams of gold jewellery and 8.28 kg of silver articles. As many as 120 incriminating documents pertaining to the allegation, storage devices and mobile phones were seized.
The allegation is that the Essentiality Certificate issued in 2020 was against the regulations of the National Medical Commission. A DVAC team launched the search around 6:30 a.m. at Mr. Vijayabaskar’s residence at Illupur in Pudukottai district. He was not present when the search was conducted, police sources said.
As part of the operation, investigators searched the residences of three government medical college professors in Salem. Sleuths searched the residences of J. Sujatha, Professor of Pathology, and T.M. Manohar, Professor of Orthopaedics, at the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital, at Sreerangapalayam and Hasthampatti respectively, and the residence of J.A. Vasanthakumar, Professor of Medicine at Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital at Suramangalam.
After the conclusion of the searches at his other house in Chennai, Mr. Vijayabaskar claimed that the sleuths had seized only two mobile phones and some identification documents.
A DVAC team searched the residence and office of the Dean of Government Theni Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday. A reliable source said Dean R. Balaji Nathan’s residence was searched for certain documents. Then the team took the Dean to his office at the medical college hospital. Employees and doctors were not allowed into his office. Simultaneously, another team searched his house at K. Pudur in Madurai.
(With inputs from correspondents in Coimbatore, Pudukottai, Salem and Madurai)
