Tamil Nadu police registered a case against three sitting ministers and the state’s special representative to Delhi.
The Chennai police booked sitting AIADMK ministers R.Kamaraj, Udumalai Radhakrishnan, Kadambur Raju and Tamil Nadu’s special representative to New Delhi N.Thalavai Sundaram, following a police complaint that was filed by income tax sleuths.
The case was registered on Friday, a day after the complaint for harassment and criminal intimidation.
The income tax department on Thursday filed a complaint against the four officials for barging into the residence of state Health Minister Dr C.Vijaya Baskar and accosting the officials who were conducting IT raids at the premises. The complaint also alleged harassment, criminal intimidation and hindering the work of a public official.
The IT officials conducted searches in the properties belonging to Vijaya Baskar and actor-politician Sarath Kumar on April 7. During the raids, the officials had reportedly unearthed various documents that indicated Rs 89 crore cash distribution to voters in RK Nagar. The bypoll was scheduled to be held on April 12.
During the raids, Kamaraj, Udumalai Radhakrishnan, Kadambur Raju, Thalavai Sundaram and other party members were seen outside the premises of Vijaya Baskar’s residence. The three ministers and the special representative were seen creating a ruckus outside the gate.
The situation was quite tense for a few hours as Vijaya Baskar himself was seen walking out from his house, with his daughter on his shoulders, saying, “the officials are harassing me. They did not allow my children to go to school. This is the handiwork of Panneerselvam.”
The ministers who went in allegedly harassed a woman officer who was on duty. Sources in the IT department said that the three ministers tried to intimidate the lady officer, following which the IT officials decided to take it forward in the form of a police complaint.
Vijaya Baskar and Sarath Kumar were summoned to the IT office for a detailed enquiry, a day after the raids on April 8. A day later, Sarath Kumar’s actor-wife Radhika’s Radan TV, a television production house, was raided and she too was summoned by the IT department for an enquiry.
The police registering the criminal case against sitting ministers had sent shock waves through the ruling corridor, making it apparent that the AIADMK(Amma) under T.T.V.Dinakaran, though in power, could not match up to the masterful Jayalalithaa.
It is also said that some ministers and MLAs, including seniors like school education minister K.A.Sengottaiyan, are said to have demanded Vijaya Baskar’s resignation. Again, the IT raids and the complaint, according to sources in the AIADMK, had created difference of opinion among the ministers.
Sources in the government said that most of the ministers were of the opinion that the raids and the complaint brought discredit to the party’s image—being with Panneerselvam would benefit them.
If more MLAs defect to the Panneerselvam faction, the party might soon be headed for another vertical split.