Additional director general (ADG) of police, Abhay Kumar Singh, has been made the new head of the Vigilance and anti-corruption wing of Tamil Nadu, the state home department announced on Tuesday.
Additional director general (ADG) of police, Abhay Kumar Singh, has been made the new head of the Vigilance and anti-corruption wing of Tamil Nadu, the state home department announced on Tuesday.
The new posting was necessitated after P Kandasamy (who had arrested BJP leader Amit Shah in the fake encounter case of Soli Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2010) retired from the post on April 30.
After the DMK formed the government in 2021, the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) went on an offensive cracking down on former AIADMK ministers.
DVAC has registered cases against former ministers SP Velumani (three cases), C Vijayabhaskar, KP Anbazhagan , MR Vijayabhaskar, P Thangamani, R Kamaraj (food) and former MLA KPP Baskar, but the cases have been in limbo. All of them are considered to be close to AIADMK’s general secretary and leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS).
The DMK promised in its election manifesto to establish a special court to try graft charges against AIADMK ministers from the previous regime. But, after close to two years and with the DVAC head retiring on April 30 and there have been no arrests made so far, officials said.
Chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday explained that to take investigations forward, they require certain pre-investigation approvals and sanctions for prosecution as per the amendments made to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018. “After these procedures, all the corruption cases against former AIADMK ministers will be taken to court,” said Stalin, responding to a question in the monthly programme- Ungalil Oruvan’ (one amongst you) on Tuesday on what action will be taken regarding the DVAC cases and a CAG report pointing to corruption charges in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) central government scheme under the previous AIADMK regime.
“People are aware of the corrupt AIADMK regime. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has confirmed the same. Further investigation will be conducted,” said Stalin.
The reports of the CAG were tabled in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly on April 22 pointing to corruption charges from 2016 to 2021 under the AIADMK government. On April 25, health minister M Subramanian held a press conference detailing the charges of corruption in the departments of school education, public works and rural development. Citing the CAG report, Subramanian said that honest contractors were prevented from participating in bidding in the highways department and 490 tenders submitted from the same IP address were accepted and the bids were awarded to the family members and those close to Palaniswami who held the portfolio. He added that the state government will consult legal experts on the matter.
The AIADMK has dismissed the charges. “Since the DMK came to power they have only been indulging in vendetta politics instead of focussing on people’s issues,” said a senior AIADMK leader. He added that soon more audio clips will be released after their ally the BJP has released two claiming to be the voice of finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan allegedly making corruption charges against Stalin’s son and son-in-law. “If the audio clips are fake, why has the DMK government not filed a police case yet? The DMK is on the backfoot after their own minister has accused them and #DMKFiles have also been released.”
Stalin also criticised that AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami and his partymen acting heroic before going to Delhi referring to the opposition party’s meeting last week with Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda. “They return like a deflated balloon,” said Stalin.