ED raids at TN min attempt to divert attention from 'vote chori,' party won't be cowed down: DMK

Chennai: The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Saturday responded sharply to the ED raids targeting its senior leader and Minister, I Periyasamy, saying it was an attempt to divert attention from 'vote chori,' a term coined by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged electoral fraud in the 2024 elections that the BJP-led NDA won.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched multiple premises linked to the Tamil Nadu minister and a senior DMK leader, his MLA-son I P Senthilkumar in Chennai and their native, Dindigul, on Saturday as part of a money laundering probe.

DMK Organisation Secretary R S Bharathi said the party would "neither fear the ED nor Modi" and that the party will face the matter legally.

In a party statement, Bharathi alleged the BJP was using empowered and autonomous bodies as its "election instruments".

The same BJP that was accusing others of "illegal money laundering," was running the "politics of vote chori," he alleged in the statement.

"The BJP stands exposed for indulging in electoral fraud by using the Election Commission. The country is shocked over this. To divert attention from the illegal vote chori, the Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches at premises linked to Periyasamy," he alleged.

The ED showing interest in cases filed in the past against DMK leaders after the party came to power is "brazen political vendetta," which even a child can see through, he claimed.

The action also comes in the wake of the DMK properly responding to Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi's certain allegations made vis-a-vis Tamil Nadu including women's safety, Bharathi said.

Slamming ED, he referred to the judiciary pulling up the central agency in cases including the MUDA land controversy from neighbouring Karnataka.

Bharathi further said the files seeking the governor's sanction for action against some former TN ministers, apparently in Vigilance department cases, were pending in the Raj Bhavan. He urged the the Centre to advice Ravi on the matter.

Further, in some cases, charge sheet has been filed against some AIADMK ex-ministers, but the ED was not taking note of these.

The Centre's only aim was to "conduct ED raids" in some DMK ministers' houses and create "an imagery of criminality," he alleged.

Meanwhile, senior DMK leader Kanimozhi asserted that the ruling party won't be cowed down by the ED searches.

"On one hand the BJP is using the EC to carry out attacks against democracy using SIR (Special Intensive Revision in Bihar) in a desperate bid to win elections.

"At the same time, agencies like IT, ED and CBI which they regularly use as a weapon against opposition, are being used against senior minsters of DMK as well. These agencies have been weaponised and used as instruments against opposition. One such raid is happening today. The DMK will face this," she told reporters in Tuticorin.

"The minister has crossed so many challenges and stood firm with DMK. No amount of intimidation will threaten our workers and leaders," she said.

The money laundering investigation against Periyasamy stems from an order of the Madras High Court in April, which directed a special court in Dindigul to frame charges against the DMK leader and his family members in connection with a Rs 2.1 crore "disproportionate assets" case.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had moved the court challenging a special court order discharging Periyasamy and his family members from the case earlier.

The HC also directed the special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis and complete it within six months.

The prosecution's case was that Periyasamy had amassed wealth to the tune of Rs 2.1 crore in his name and in the names of his wife, P Suseela, sons P Sentilkumar and P Prabhu, disproportionate to his known sources of income when he was a minister between 2006 and 2010.

Senior DMK leaders and ex-ministers, K Ponmudy and V Senthil Balaji are already facing ED probe. While Balaji is being investigated in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam when he was Transport minister in an earlier AIADMK regime, Ponmudy has appeared for an enquiry before the central agency in connection with a money laundering case connected to alleged illegal sand mining.