The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday began conducting searches on AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu minister Dr C Vijayabaskar, a private educational institution and a Chennai-based real estate group in separate money laundering cases.
The ED is conducting searches in 25 different locations across the state, including former minister Vijayabaskar's home at Iluppur in Pudukkottai district. The searches come at a time when the AIADMK had chosen to stay away from the NDA despite several feelers sent by the BJP.
The AIADMK released its first candidate list on Wednesday and the raids began just hours before the second candidate list was released by the AIADMK leader.
According to official sources, the ED raids at his house in Pudukkottai based on a FIR registered by the state's vigilance and anti-corruption agency (DVAC).
The DVAC had registered a FIR against Vijayabaskar in 2022 over allegations of corruption in granting essential certificate to a private medical college and hospital. The searches are happening at his premises two years after the FIR was registered by the DVAC.
Sources say that the ED had initiated a money laundering case and the probe is underway. The ED officials arrived in three vehicles at his house in Iluppur at 8 am.
Vijayabaskar, reportedly, was not in his residence during the search. The ED is looking for evidences linking the former minister with Vels medical college and hospital in Chennai for which he had reportedly given essential certificate when he was the health minister. The institution had allegedly submitted fake documents by fraudulent means to get the essential certificate. The institution is also facing ED raids simultaneously.
Considered to be a money bag and a strong leader from the popular Thevar community in South Tamil Nadu, Vijayabaskar was the health minister for two successive terms during the previous AIADMK regime under Jayalalithaa and Edappadi K Palanisami. He was earlier subjected to an income tax probe in 2017, five months after the death of Jayalalithaa, in the run up to RK Nagar bypoll. The constituency had fallen vacant after Jayalalithaa's death.
A CBI probe was also initiated against him in the famous Gutkha scam case in which the chargesheet has also been filed by the investigating agency. Apart from the minister and the educational institution, G Square, a reality firm in Chennai, is also being raised by the enforcement directorate. The reality firm which is considered to be close to the ruling DMK was subjected to income tax raids earlier in 2019 and 2023.
