Vigilance raids at premises of TN govt official

Chennai, Sep 29 (IANS) The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) bureau on Wednesday conducted raids at the premises of an official with the state rural department and his two brothers, who are government contractors in Tamil Nadu's Pudukottai.

The DVAC teams from Pudukottai, Tiruchi and Sivaganga conducted raids on the residences of Muruganandam, the Rural Department official, and his two brothers, Ravichandran and Palanivel, who are government contractors.

The raids were also conducted at a few commercial complexes said to be owned by the brothers in Pudukottai. Tamil Nadu government home department officials while speaking to IANS said that the raids were conducted following information that the brothers were having assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The raids are considered to be a follow-up of the raids conducted on the premises of former Urban and Panchayat minister S.P.Velumani, who was a minister in the previous AIADMK government.

The contractors, Ravichandran and Palanivel, are said to be close to the former minister and the top brass of the AIADMK and had executed several construction projects during the tenure of the AIADMK.

A senior leader of the AIADMK, who did not want to be named, told IANS: "The raids are indeed political vendetta being carried out by the DMK. After raids at the premises of former ministers, now the DMK government is focusing on officials and contractors.

"These contractors are not in any way politically aligned to the AIADMK, and executing work during our period does not mean that they are our cadres. The DMK is trying to threaten business groups and contractors by using the DVAC raids as a bogey and we will handle this politically and legally."