The Enforcement Directorate (ED) accused the Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration and Water Supplies (MAWS) Minister K.N. Nehru of money laundering and running an organised system of corruption in the transfer and posting of government officers and engineers.
The ED, in its third letter alleging corruption and a scam in the TN MAWS department, cited digital evidence, financial trails, and alleged corruption and money laundering to the tune of ₹366 crore.
The letter offers details of the digital evidence seized by the federal agency during the searches conducted in April 2025 at places linked to Minister Nehru. A portion of the letter and the note, a copy of which is available with THE WEEK, alleges corruption to the tune of ₹366 crore.
In a communication dated January 14, 2026, sent to the Chief Secretary, the Director General of Police, and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), the ED said the agency has recovered “many evidences which amount to a scheduled offence.” The agency also said it uncovered many instances of “bribes collected for the transfer and posting of government officers/engineers in the MAWS department.”
The agency, through the letter, insisted that the state authorities register a criminal case immediately against Nehru and his associates.
The agency, recalling its earlier two letters on corruption and scams in the MAWS department in examinations, the selection process, and recruitment, categorically mentioned that this third note was on corruption in transfers and postings in the department. “The present note deals with evidence relating to corruption in the transfer of government officers/engineers of MAWS by Nehru and his associates,” the ED wrote in the letter.
The note, which has several other names of Nehru’s associates, gives evidence in tabular columns under several heads — ‘Summary of direct evidence of bribe’, ‘Money laundering of bribe money (proceeds of crime)’, ‘Money laundering of bribes through cash payment for the purchase of properties/investments’, ‘Money laundering of bribes through integrating in construction/real estate business’, ‘Money laundering of bribes for a luxury lifestyle’, and the need for registering an FIR.
In the note, with a 99-page annexure, the agency claims to have traced how the proceeds from bribes were laundered under a special subheading, ‘Summary of direct evidence of money laundering’. The note gives details of the money laundered under various heads—business, real estate, construction, property investments, benami entities, investments in gold bullion, foreign properties, and luxury and lifestyle expenses—which run to a total of ₹365.87 crore.
The note also says that “the above summary of money laundering is only restricted to evidence showing actual investments/expenditure.” It further says it doesn’t include the evidence relating to the discussion of a hotel purchase of ₹50 crore, the discussion of a 34-acre property in the USA, discussion of cash transactions to Singapore, discussions of a 3.23-acre property purchase in the USA worth ₹70 crore, money laundering for foreign education/lifestyle, and the extravagant lifestyle of a few of his associates.
The ED also claimed it had identified about 340 officers or engineers whose transfer and posting orders were found on the phones of the close associates of Nehru. “This is direct evidence of bribe collection in transfers and postings of officers/engineers of MAWS,” the ED categorically mentioned in the four-page note.
A thorough analysis of the note reveals that the federal agency has recovered several incriminating pieces of evidence and documents, which can potentially frame Nehru under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), if an FIR is registered by a state agency, which will pave the way for the ED to register the ECIR and proceed with further investigation.
“Since a large evidence/information/material related to corruption by K.N. Nehru was found in the searches conducted, the evidence was transferred to other relevant cases and is being sent for initiation of necessary criminal action through registration of an FIR. It may be appreciated that the ED can investigate an offence of money laundering only when a scheduled offence is registered by a law enforcement agency,” the note stated while forwarding the material under Section 66(2) of the PMLA.
But throughout the four-page letter, the agency repeatedly says that it came across the “digital evidence” when it was investigating another case involving Nehru’s brother in a bank fraud case. The original bank fraud case involving Nehru’s brother, Ravichandran, was actually closed after the defaulted loan amount was repaid. But during the course of that investigation, the transfer-posting racket came to notice, the agency pointed out. “The evidence was found by the ED accidentally when investigations were being done in a different case against a few individuals,” the note said.
The agency also made it clear in the note that “the evidence discussed is a small part of a much larger transfer and posting scam in government departments. The bribes are much larger in quantum, which needs to be investigated.”
However, the ED’s note also has a subtle note of intimidation, saying that the investigation will not stop with the MAWS department or Nehru and that other ministries will also come under the agency’s scanner. “The bribes in transfer and postings of other ministries are also being collected through unknown persons,” the ED’s note claimed.
It also said that the bribes are being transferred through the hawala network, both within and outside the country, so as to keep the identity “of the ultimate beneficiary secret and leave no traces of a money trail.”
The ED had earlier written to the state DGP on two instances — October 27, 2025, and December 3, 2025. The first was with regard to money collected as a bribe to the tune of ₹25 lakh to ₹35 lakh from candidates who appeared for the recruitment exams to get jobs in the MAWS department, and the second note involved details with regard to the manipulation of government contracts ranging from 7.5 per cent to 15 per cent. “Direct evidence relating to the collection of ₹1,020 crore in bribes was also provided. Both the said notes and the evidence stated therein dealt with specific areas of corruption involving the MAWS department,” the ED’s note to the state government said.
When asked for a response, sources close to Minister Nehru declined to respond, saying that all these matters are under inquiry and there is no clarity on the details.
“How can an FIR be filed without a prima facie case? This is pure pressure tactic to frame him. Legally, the ED cannot order or even ask the state DGP or the Chief Secretary to investigate and file an FIR. It is only to insinuate. Ultimately, the aim is to distract the functioning of the government,” claimed a source close to K.N. Nehru.
The agency, the source says, is strategically leaking specific information only to damage the image of the government. “The ED’s status as a central agency does not make it infallible. The ED has been entrusted to administer the PMLA, which is meant to prevent criminals from enjoying the proceeds of crime. The structure of the law is clear in principle. There must first be a scheduled offence that generates proceeds of crime. In practice, the ED has inverted this logic. In many cases, the ED treats the money laundering process as independent of an underlying crime and then proceeds to establish a predicate offence to justify its action,” says Saravanan Annadurai, DMK spokesperson and a lawyer who has appeared in several ED-related cases in the Madras High Court.