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DVAC raids former minister, AIADMK says political agenda
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Thursday conducted searches in more than 20 premises linked to former AIADMK transport minister M R Vijayabhaskar
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Thursday conducted searches in more than 20 premises linked to former AIADMK transport minister M R Vijayabhaskar.
From Thursday morning, the team raided 20 places in his native in Karur district and searched his Chennai residence. By evening DVAC sleuths conducted searches in three additional places including a private company, a residence of his associate and at his personal assistant’s house.
A case under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(b) and 12 r/w 13(2) r/w 13(1)(b) of the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 was registered against Vijayabhaskar, his wife Vijayalakshmi and his brother Sekar, DVAC said in a statement. “During the search proceedings, net cash of ₹25,56,000, sale deed documents, documents pertaining to investments made in insurance policies and documents related to transactions in the business firms in which M R Vijayabhaskar is a partner and other incriminating documents were seized,” DVAC.
Vijayabhaskar’s lawyer Selvam in Chennai told reporters that they were cooperating with the agency. “They asked for accounts. We have given them,” he said.
The AIADMK condemned the DMK government over the raids and called it a political vendetta.
“The DMK hasn’t even completed 90 days in government but with an intention to register a false case they are raiding former minister Vijayabhaskar’s residence,” AIADMK’s coordinator O Panneerselvam told reporters outside the party headquarters.
He was flanked by former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami and other leaders. “The AIADMK is ready to face any major avenging act of the DMK. We will face any legal action.
“The DMK government has to stop such anti-democratic activities. It is with political vendetta that they are raiding a party which has governed for the last 10 years for people’s rights and livelihood. Such raids carried out soon after they have come to power will not do any good to the political situation in the state.”
This is being seen as DMK’s first strike against the AIADMK as one of the DMK’s election promises is to establish a special court to try graft charges against AIADMK ministers from the previous regime.
When the DMK was in the opposition, they had submitted corruption charges against top cabinet ministers including former chief minister and deputy chief minister Edappdi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam to governor Banwarilal Purohit. The DMK government had appointed IPS officer P Kandaswamy, to head the DVAC as its chief.
He is a low-key officer who is most known for leading the team in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that arrested present Union home minister Amit Shah when he was Gujarat minister in 2010 for his alleged involvement in the Sohrabuddin encounter case. Vijayabhaskar was appointed as transport minister after the party was elected in the 2016 assembly elections.
Vijayabaskar lost the recently held assembly elections to DMK’s Senthil Balaji who was formerly with the AIADMK. Balaji, who is now electricity minister, was accused in a job scam when he was the transport minister between 2011 and 2015.
Following J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, he joined the rebel camp led by V K Sasikala’s nephew, TTV Dhinakaran camp and he was one of the 18 disqualified MLAs. But he subsequently joined the DMK in 2018.
