Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the Chennai residence of DMK treasurer and younger son of party chief M Karunanidhi, MK Stalin, on Thursday morning. The raid came two days after the DMK withdrew support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at the Centre over the Sri lankan Tamil issue.
The raid by the country’s top investigation agency functioning under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister immediately after the DMK withdrawing its support to the Union Government substantiated the complaint of the BJP, the principal Opposition party, that the CBI was being misused by the Congress as a Congress Bureau of Intimidation to make trouble makers in the UPA to fall in line. The sudden development took all by surprise.
The CBI sleuths gate crashed into Stalin’s residence when he had gone for his routine morning walk. A release by the CBI said the raid was in connection with a case registered under section 120B read with 420, 467, 468 read with 471 IPC and section 13(2) read with 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 in connection with the complaint about importing of 33 vehicles to Tamil Nadu and out of this some vehicles were subsequently sold causing loss of Rs 48 crore to the exchequer.
“A case had been registered against an importer and an intelligence officer of the Department of Revenue Intelligence who did not take any action even after the filing of the complaint. The CBI searched 18 locations and seized 17 imported cars. Search is still in progress,” said the CBI release.
A senior official of the CBI told The Pioneer that the complaint was under the scrutiny of the CBI for the last one year. “The investigating team might have felt this was the right moment to strike as the DMK quit the Union Government as well as the UPA on Tuesday morning,” he said. CBI officials in Chennai were tightlipped about the raid.
What surprised professionals in financial and legal sectors was the fact that why the CBI should probe this case. Nothing was seized in the raid held at Stalin’s residence and it was called off midway following directions from New Delhi. Though both the CBI and the Prime Minister denied any motive behind the raid, the DMK leaders said it was an act of vendetta.
Sources in CBI said the raid was in connection with the complaint that Stalin’s son has purchased a Hummer car in violation of the import rules. Since SS Palanimanickam of the DMK was the Minister of State in the Finance Ministry from May 2004 to March 20, 2013, it would not have been impossible for the DMK’s first family to short circuit the normal procedures. Car aficionados told The Pioneer that a US built Hummer would cost more than Rs 3 crore in Indian market.
The raid drew wide criticism from top leaders of the DMK as well as the BJP. No incriminating documents or vehicles has been seized from Stalin’s Chennai house. Speaking to reporter’s Stalin said the raids would not have happened without the concurrence of top officials in New Delhi. “This is an act of political vendetta and I will fight it legally,” said Stalin.
The penchant of the DMK’s first family for imported cars is well known. Stalin, the prince in waiting, moves around in a land Rover while his son Udayanidhi was the first in Chennai to own a Hummer. The Stalins have a fleet of imported cars ranging from land Cruiser to lamborghini. Stalin who used to drive around Chennai in a Tata Safari switched over to land Cruiser in 2004 and since then there was no looking back for him. Karunanidhi, as Chief Minister had used an Ambassador till 2001. later, he too graduated to the big league. The grand old man of the DMIK drives around in an imported Toyota Asphard costing Rs 2 crore.
“I am surprised at the role of the CBI in this case. It was for the Customs Department and the DRI to investigate the case. But the fact that that the DRI was under Palanimanickam till the other day speaks volumes about the shady deals,” said MR Venlatesh, chartered accountant. “The empire hits back”, that was how a political commentator described the raid in Stalin’s residence.