Plaint against TN minister: DVAC hands over preliminary probe

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Thursday handed over the preliminary inquiry report to the Madras High Court on the corruption charges levelled by the DMK and an NGO against local administration minister S P Velumani in various contracts. The report was handed over in a sealed cover as directed by a division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha.

DMK has sought a probe against Velumani over alleged flouting of laws and corruption in awarding tenders for government projects and contracts 'Arappor Iyakkam', the NGO, has alleged that Velumani, minister for municipal administration and rural development, indulged in brazen abuse of power, favouritism and gross breach of trust in the performance of his public and official duty. Passing interim orders on the petitions filed by the NGO and R S Bharathi, organising secretary of DMK, the bench had on January 7 directed the DVAC to produce the preliminary inquiry report with case files.

The bench on Thursday raised several questions to Public Prosecutor (PP) A Natarajan on the scope of preliminary inquiry and how it should be conducted and if full-fledged inquiry can be conducted under its ambit. The State PP in his reply, while quoting several judgments, said no format has been set to conduct the preliminary inquiry and it depends upon case to case.

The bench after going through the public prosecutor's submissions posted the matter to February 17 for further arguments..

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