Back to back ordeals for ADMK: New complaint is filed against former ADMK Minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan!

Tamil Nadu's Opposition party ADMK is facing an ordeal period from all directions - from the ongoing intra-party tussle and leadership crisis, VK Sasikala's prospective political comeback, white paper on Tamil Nadu's financial condition, to dismaying raids conducted by the state-run Anti-Corruption watchdog in the residences and properties of former ADMK Ministers. Amid all these troubles, the party is also witnessing complaints being filed against the former ADMK Ministers by individuals with shocking allegations of cheating them. 

The trouble for ADMK is seemingly getting overwhelmed as Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had on Tuesday stormed into the residences of former minister SP Velumani, who is one of the bigheads in the ADMK close to former Chief Minister and current Opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami. The DVAC authorities had conducted searches at around 60 places across Tamil Nadu majorly in Chennai and Coimbatore that were intimately connected with Velumani. The raids were conducted in connection to the allegations of corruption and irregularities during Velumani's ministerial tenure.

On the other hand, in the midst of bracing up a big blow through raids, the ADMK had witnessed an episode of trouble over complaints filed against the former ministers. According to reports, 42-year-old Devendran of Ponneri in the Tiruvallur district had on Monday filed a complaint against former ADMK Minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan, who served as the Minister of Animal Husbandry in the previous ADMK regime. Devendran had worked as an office assistant to Radhakrishnan and the 42-year-old complainant alleged that the former minister and a few others had collected Rs 1.5 crore from him with the promise of providing government jobs to some people and cheated him. 

Devendran said that he had introduced many people to Udumalai Radhakrishnan and they paid cash to get government jobs. However, the former minister had cheated by putting the promise of government jobs on the air. The complaint against Radhakrishnan had come hours after a complaint was filed against former minister SP Velumani. On Monday, contractor Thiruvengadam from Coimbatore had filed a complaint at the Office of Chennai Police Commissioner. The complainant, Thiruvengadam, has alleged that Velumani had cheated him of Rs 1.20 crore by promising him to provide the government contracts.

Thiruvengadam has further said that he was intimidated by Velumani and the former minister had threatened to kill him when he asked to repay the money. The reports say that Thiruvengadam was earlier with the ADMK and close Kinathukadavu Damodaran, who was the erstwhile strongman of ADMK in the Western region. After SP Velumani rose to power in the ADMK, Thiruvengadam had paid Rs 1.20 crore in two instalments to the former minister with the assurance of government contracts. It has been reported that he had paid the money to Velumani in 2014. However, no such contract was given to him and he accused Velumani of swindling his money. 

Velumani had used his ministerial influence previously to intimidate him and after years of fight, Thiruvengadam had filed a case against Velumani as the ADMK had lost its power in the state.SP Velumani, who is one of the bigheads in ADMK, had served as the Minister for Local Administration in the previous rule and he has been close to former Chief Minister and current Opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami. Velumani had won the recently-held state assembly polls from the Thondamuthur constituency in Coimbatore. Both the complaints against the two former ministers from the ADMK's stronghold of the western region were moved to the Chennai Police Commissioner's office and the reports say that two complaints have been forwarded to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for further investigation.

 

Comments