Crime Today News
Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Tamil Nadu, including the Hindutva party’s state chief K Annamalai and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, were detained by the Chennai Police on Monday ahead of a protest against alleged financial irregularities in the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation.
The corporation, better known as Tasmac, is a government-owned company that has a monopoly over the wholesale and retail sales of alcoholic beverages in Tamil Nadu.
Annamalai was detained near his residence in Akkarai as he attempted to travel to the protest site outside the Tasmac headquarters in Chennai’s Egmore.
Soundararajan was taken into custody as she left her home in Saligramam, where police had cordoned off the premises in the morning after her supporters gathered outside, reported The Indian Express.
BJP MLAs Vanathi Srinivasan, who is the national president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, and Saraswathi were also detained near the state Secretariat, reported The Hindu.
Another BJP functionary, Vinoj P Selvam, was detained in T Nagar and a group of party workers were detained in Taramani.
Police also took into custody BJP functionaries and cadre who assembled at Rajarathinam Stadium before marching towards the Tasmac headquarters in Egmore. A scuffle broke out between party workers and police.
The protest was organised based on an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, which has alleged that Tasmac is at the centre of a Rs 1,000-crore corruption network involving state officials, liquor distilleries and bottling companies.
On March 6, the ED searched several locations across Tamil Nadu, including the Tasmac headquarters. It said it recovered incriminating documents and electronic evidence.
According to the agency, the investigation revealed manipulation in the tender process, with transport contracts worth Rs 100 crore allegedly awarded to bidders who failed to meet the eligibility criteria. Some tenders were allegedly approved with only one applicant.
Leading liquor manufacturers – SNJ, Kals, Accord, SAIFL and Shiva Distillery – were allegedly found to have routed unaccounted cash through bottling companies such as Devi Bottles and Crystal Bottles.
The funds were allegedly used to bribe Tasmac officials for inflated supply orders.
The Enforcement Directorate said the financial fraud was enabled by inflated expenses and fake invoices, creating a flow of illicit cash. It alleged that distilleries inflated costs through bogus bottle-making contracts, and that bribery also influenced staff transfers within Tasmac.
It also said Tasmac shops routinely overcharged customers by Rs 10 to Rs 30 per bottle.
On Monday, Annamalai criticised the detentions and accused the state government of suppressing dissent.
“Is it because we declared the protest democratically and announced the date of the protest in advance that you [Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam] are able to engage in such cowardly actions?” he asked on social media. “What can you do if we suddenly launch a protest one day, without announcing a date?”
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