Behind the News is your round-up of musings from the corridors of power. Read what goes on behind the scenes for news & newsmakers.
Published Sep 26, 2024 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 26, 2024 | 2:35 PM
Ex-AIADMK ministers Vaithilingam, Subramanian and Velumani
K Munusamy now curses that moment many years ago when he felt mighty important and proud.
He had enough reason to be proud. The then-minister for Adi-Dravidar welfare N Subramanian had asked him to recruit 80 chefs to be employed in Adi-Dravidar hostels, a rare honour that someone like Munusamy of Salem would get.
Munusamy did not get 80 chefs but he managed to recruit 20. He took money from the recruits, and passed it on to the minister through middlemen who had contacted him, the elderly man later complained.
The Salem resident soon realised he had been trapped as the recruits approached him, demanding either the promised job or the money back. Munusamy’s efforts to heed their demand fall apart, as he could not offer them either the job or their money. However, he managed to get ₹23.5 lakh — out of ₹65 lakh reportedly given to the minister.
Munusamy felt cheated and lonely, even in his familiar Johnsonpet locality. His pride had been dented, his honour shattered. Additionally, he started receiving death threats whenever he demanded the money back.
Not one to take the insult lying down, Munusamy decided to act and approached the Salem City crime branch.
Former AIADMK minister Subramanian and his daughter are now accused of a job scam after the crime branch transferred the case to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).
Subramanian is among three former AIADMK ministers against whom DVAC has registered cases in the past 10 days. Besides Subramanian, R Vaithilingam and SP Velumani, too, are feeling the DVAC heat.
Vaithilingam, who served as the housing board minister from 2011 to 2016, has been booked along with his two sons and 11 other municipal officials.
The AIADMK leader has been accused of accepting a bribe of ₹28 crore for granting planning permissions. A new case against him also cites an additional ₹33 crore linked to corrupt practices during his tenure.
The case against Velumani, too, has raised a political stink. It has been alleged that he awarded contracts in 2018 for constructing stormwater drainage systems and road repairs in Chennai, amounting approximately to ₹536.39 crore.
The case against the AIADMK leader was based on Arappor Iyakkam’s complaint, and the DVAC registered the case after a preliminary investigation uncovered alleged irregularities.
Charges against Velumani included the use of substandard materials and inflated pricing, resulting in a reported loss of ₹26.62 crore to the government of Tamil Nadu. Besides Velumani, the former minister of rural development and municipal administration, the DVAC has also booked several engineers involved in the project.
The DVAC move against former ministers ruffled many feathers. Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswamy criticised the DVAC’s actions, claiming they were politically motivated and intended to distract people from looking at the actions of the DMK government.
AIADMK leader and former chief minister O Panneerselvam denounced the DVAC actions, terming them political vendetta aimed at undermining the party and its leaders ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
(Edited by Neena)
