Alleged liquor scam and the ED searches haunt ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu
On May 20, at a time when the entire state was debating on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searches on state-owned liquor retailer TASMAC, the Tamil Nadu government filed a plea in the Supreme Court questioning the validity of the raids.
This is the second time the Tamil Nadu government had knocked the doors of the top court in the TASMAC case. On April 8, the state government, on instructions from the apex court, withdrew its plea seeking direction to transfer its petitions against the ED from the Madras High Court to any other high court. Subsequently the Madras High Court gave a go ahead to the ED to conduct search operations and investigate the alleged Rs 1,000 crore TASMAC scam. Following the court’s order, the central investigating agency began its full fledged hunt against the TASMAC officials and several other individuals allegedly connected to the scam. TASMAC’s managing director S. Visagan was grilled by the ED for more than 20 hours, while summons have been sent to TASMAC general manager Sangeetha and other accomplices of Visagan.
The raids came just a few days after the M.K. Stalin-led DMK government entered the fifth year of its tenure and began devising strategies to fight the ensuing assembly general election in 2026. The ED also conducted searches at the residence of a former PRO connected to a distillery company in Annanagar. Sources say that the probe agency has got solid evidence out of the searches at the PRO’s house who acted as a liaison between the distillery company owners and the party functionaries.
ED is also on the lookout for two individuals, Ratheesh Velu and film producer Akash Bhaskaran of Dawn pictures. Ratheesh and Akash, who are on the run are suspected to be acting as conduits for laundering the unaccounted money which stemmed out of the TASMAC scam. The two are allegedly linked to the DMK and its top brass. It is said that Ratheesh’s residence at posh apartment in the swanky MRC nagar in Chennai was left open with no occupants inside. Sources say that he had fled to London, just 30 minutes before the ED officials could reach his place. Similarly Akash who is producing a few big budget movies with high profile stars is also missing.
Though there has been no official statement from the ED yet on the searches and the scam, the opposition AIADMK and the BJP have alleged that Ratheesh and Akash are linked to deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. The opposition’s social media campaign asking “Yaar antha thambi?” meaning who is that younger brother has turned into a huge embarrassment for the DMK. Incidentally this is the kind of slogan that the AIADMK has launched against the DMK since the Anna university sexual assault case. The AIADMK’s questions were directed to chief minister M.K. Stalin and his deputy Udhayanidhi have turned into a huge embarrassment for the DMK which is already fighting a slew of legal cases in various courts against the senior ministers.
The central investigation agency had already come down on senior ministers like DuraiMurugan, K.N. Nehru, V. Senthil Balaji and others. But with the new links now, it is suspected that it might turn out to be a target on the state’s top brass like how former Delhi chief minister Aravind Kejriwal was put to trouble during the tail end of his term.
India