The Tamil Nadu police have started investigations into a wire transfer of Rs. 30 lakh from London into the savings account of a woman whose husband is a leader of the protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tirunelveli district.
"We registered a case in connection with the wire transfer to Ambika, wife of Thavasi Kumar, on Sunday after keeping watch for more than a week," Tirunelveli superintendent of police Vijayendra Bidari said on Monday.
The money has been sent by one Joshua Anand, apparently a software engineer in London, the police said. When questioned, Kumar, a member of the Kudankulam town panchayat, told the police Anand had sent them the money to invest in property.
"But he had no documents such as power of attorney from Anand to prove this claim," a police officer working on the case said.
Sustained protests against the Rs. 13,000-crore Indo-Russian nuclear project in Tirunelveli district, 650 km south of Chennai, have led the Centre to suspect foreign-funded NGOs of channelling money into the stir.
SP Udaykumar, the convenor of Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy, which is spearheading the protests, said, "The case against Ambika is yet another instance of witch-hunt against anti-nuclear activists."