nTamil Nadu’s political landscape witnessed a shock for few hours late Friday night as a team of Income Tax official swooped down on the Katpadi residence of Durai Murugan, treasurer of the DMK. The raid which ended by Saturday morning evoked condemnation from all political parties that constitute the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) led by the DMK.
According to sources in the DMK, the team of officials included that from the department of Income Tax as well as the senior officials of the flying squad which is engaged in checking the flow of unaccounted money for campaign activities.
The raid comes within days of the Election Commission of India informing the Madras High Court that cash-for- votes has permeated the electoral field of the State. “Because of the widespread cash-for-votes nuisance , the ECI was forced to rescind three electoral notifications in the State in recent times,” the panel told the court which was hearing a public interest litigation seeking a court directive to recover from the candidate concerned or the head of the political party to which he/she belongs all expenses incurred by the government for conducting elections that get cancelled due to bribing of voters.
Interestingly D M Kathir Anand, son of Durai Murugan, is the DMK candidate from the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency. The Murugans own a network of business enterprises in India and abroad according to sources in the Income Tax Department.
