Officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided business and residential premises of KN Nehru, Minister of Urban Affairs and Water Supply in Tamil Nadu, on Monday morning.
The premises that came under the ED raid include Nehru's palatial residences and also that of his son Arun Nehru's residence and offices. Arun Nehru is a Member of Parliament representing Perambalur Lok Sabha constituency.
The ED raid is in connection with a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to sources. KN Nehru is a close confidante of Chief Minister MK Stalin and influential in the Tiruchirappalli region.
Interestingly, the residences of his other younger brother KN Ravichandran and late brother Ramajayam too were raided by the sleuths.
Ramajayam was found
murdered in 2011 but the police are yet to make any breakthrough in the
sensational murder.
As the news of raid spread, hundreds of DMK activists laid siege to the residence of Nehru.
ED officials had to summon the CRPF commandos to proceed with the raid. At the time of going to Press, the
ED teams are busy searching the houses and business establishments of the
Nehru family.
"This is political vendetta unleashed by the BJP Government at the Centre to terrorise the Tamil Nadu chief minister and his council of ministers," said a DMK leader who was raising slogans against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the imposing building owned by the Nehrus at Tiruchirappalli.
Many ministers in the DMK Government including Senthil Balaji were raided by the ED in the recent past.
Balaji was incarcerated for 15 months on charges of massive corruption and the trial of the case is yet to begin.
The ED's Monday morning raid is seen as a fall out of the Rs 1000 crore financial embezzlement in Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation, the monopoly liquor outlet owned by the Government.
Reacting to the development, leaders and supporters of the DMK strongly condemned the ED's actions. They alleged that the raids were politically motivated and orchestrated by the BJP to malign the image of the state government.
