Though the I-T sleuths seized money and documents indicating tax evasion at educational institutes run by his family, Velu claimed innocence.
After the searches concluded, the minister held a press conference at Tiruvannamalai and stated that the raids were conducted to threaten the DMK. (X)
After five days of searches, the Income Tax Department’s raids at Public Works Department Minister EV Velu’s properties have concluded.
After the raids, the minister, while interacting with the media at Tiruvannamalai, said that the I-T actions were in order to threaten the DMK. The minister also claimed that the I-T officials hadn’t seized even a single paisa.
On 3 November, the I-T sleuths searched the minister’s properties at Tiruvannamalai, Chennai, Karur, and Coimbatore, including the educational institutions run by his family.
According to sources, during the raid, the I-T Department found evidence of tax evasion in the educational institutions, including the Arunai Medical College and Hospital, run by a Trust headed by Velu.
During the search operation, the officials seized a total of ₹29 crore, including ₹22 crore in cash, and incriminating documents from the premises of a contractor close to the minister.
Further, in the raids conducted on the properties of the aides related to the minister in Coimbatore, including real estate firms Appaswamy Real Estate and Casagrand Builder Pvt Ltd, ₹7 crore in cash was seized.
The officials also seized documents relating to tenders at the properties of a few PWD contractors in Karur, Coimbatore, and Tiruvannamalai, and the contractors were further questioned on tax evasion.
In Coimbatore, the searches were carried out at the residence of Meena Jayakumar, Deputy Secretary of the DMK’s Art and Literature Wing, and incriminating documents related to land dealing by her husband Jayakumar were seized by the I-T Department.
After the searches concluded, the minister, on Tuesday night, held a press conference at Tiruvannamalai on Tiesday, 7 November, stating that the I-T Department conducted the raids to threaten and paralyse the DMK politically, as the parliamentary elections are nearing.
He also claimed that the I-T officials had not seized even a single paisa from his house.
However, the minister stated that he was in no way related to the colleges run by his family members as he had resigned from those educational Trusts.
The minister also alleged that the I-T officials behaved in a threatening manner and they were mere arrows.
Further, the minister denied his relationship with realtors Casagrand and Appasamy. “I don’t know who runs Casagrand. The only relationship I have with Appasamy realtors is that I used to stay in their hotels, sometimes, when I visit Coimbatore. I haven’t met him at all,” the minister said.
#EVVelu #ITRaid #bjpfails pic.twitter.com/iJMqssNuSC
— E.V.Velu (எ.வ.வேலு) (@evvelu) November 8, 2023
“Many people meet me in my capacity as a state minister and searching them only for this reason is not at all accepted. I’m not responsible for the money seized from them. They do business and earn money. I am in no way connected with the money they earn,” the minister said.
Velu further said, “All I have is 48.33-acre land in Tiruvannamalai and a house in Chennai, as I mentioned in the election affidavit and I have no properties other than that. Myself, my wife, and two sons are income tax assessees.”
The minister also alleged that his PA and car driver were grilled by the I-T sleuths unnecessarily and they were harassed by them.
The minister added that neither he nor the DMK will not afraid of these threats and will not bow to such political pressures. “We will win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats. The I-T Department has been turned into another wing of the BJP. With the support of Chief Minister MK Stalin, I will continue serving the people,” Velu said.
Velu, a six-time MLA, is a powerful minister in the MK Stalin Cabinet, holding the Public Works Department, Highways and Small Ports Department portfolios.
Though he started his career as a lorry owner, Velu became a movie distributor and, later, even produced a few Tamil movies.
When he first entered the realm of politics, Velu joined the AIADMK; however, after the death of AIADMK founder and former chief minister MG Ramachandran (MGR), he shifted his loyalty to DMK chief M Karunanidhi,
In the early 1990s, he joined the DMK and later became the food minister in M Karunanidhi’s Cabinet, during 2006-2011.
Velu was the first to demand, in a public forum, to make Stalin the deputy chief minister in 2009 and is considered one of the heavyweights of the DMK.
After the DMK came to power in 2021, the party General Secretary Durai Murugan demanded the PWD portfolio, which he had previously held during the DMK regime from 2006 to 2009.
However, Stalin bifurcated the Public Works Department and allotted the Water Resources portfolio to Durai Murugan and the main PWD portfolio to Velu.
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