Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officials alleged that former Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan and his family members amassed assets worth Rs 11.32 crore between May 2016 and March 2021, disproportionate to their known sources of income. Many of their places were raided.
The agency claimed that it had unearthed unaccounted cash, valuables and other incriminating documents worth ₹2.82 crore.
searches followed FIR lodged by DVAC Mr. Anbalagan, his wife A. Malliga, 55, son A. Shashimohan, 29, A. Chandra Mohan, 32, and Chandra Mohan’s wife S. Against Vaishnavi, 32.
While the AIADMK leader was booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, his family members were booked for aiding and abetting the corruption of his public office.
According to the FIR, there were willful, illegal personal enrichment, properties and economic resources acquired in his name and in the name of relatives during the period of his ministerial tenure. The DVAC had assessed the quantum of disproportionate acquisition of assets for the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections on the basis of affidavits filed by Mr. Anbalagan and “information received from credible sources”. The ownership of consolidated assets of ₹ 1.60 crore was reported in his affidavit in 2016. In April 2021, his affidavit showed a manifold increase in the ownership of the property to ₹23.03 crore.
DVAC, along with the declared information, calculated the amount of acquisition, along with known sources of income, savings and expenditure, during the ‘Check Period’ of its investigation, i.e. from April 2016 to March 2021, and calculated the “potential savings”. calculated. and acquired disproportionate assets by Mr. Anbalagan aggregating to `11.32 crore.
In addition, the DVAC investigation revealed that Mr. Anbalagan’s other undisclosed assets/businesses were operating under different names. These include various stone quarries in Dharmapuri named after his son-in-law, brother-in-law and a close associate; and a granite firm by the name of M/s Ganesh Granite, located at Avvai Shanmugam Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai, under the name of her niece and her husband (sister’s daughter Deepa and son-in-law N. Sivakumar). Shivakumar is also an 80% holding partner in another granite firm in Karimnagar district of Telangana.
In a separate statement, DVAC referred to a petition filed by N Krishnamurthy before the Madras High Court, directing the anti-corruption agency to examine his previous petition to DVAC, alleging collection of funds by Mr. Anbalagan. was imposed. Simultaneously, DVAC was conducting its own investigation and based on the information gathered, a case was registered.
In Dharmapuri, besides Mr. Anbalagan’s house at Keragondahalli in Karimangalam, the house of AIADMK MLA from Papireddypatti A Govindasamy was raided.
After a day-long searches at 57 locations in Tamil Nadu (Dharmapuri-53, Salem-1, Chennai-3) and 1 in Telangana, DVAC announced the discovery of Rs 2,87,98,650 crore in unaccounted cash, 6.637 kg. Bank locker keys along with gold ornaments, 13.85 kg silver articles and other incriminating documents.
However, when contacted, Mr. Anbalagan denied any such seizure of cash.
Thursday’s searches at Mr Anbalagan’s properties are the sixth such high-profile crackdown in recent months against former AIADMK ministers over corruption charges.
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