ARAPPOR IYAKKAM Vs. DIRECTOR DIRECTORATE OF VIGILANCE & ANTI CORRUPTION NO.293, MKN ROAD ALANDUR, CHENNAI 600 016

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In view of the commonality of the facts, the decision in the four cases at hand, viz., W.P. No.34845 of 2018 and Crl.O.P. Nos.23428 of 2018 and 21564 and 21565 of 2022, will be governed by this common order.

(2.) The dramatis persona in this case is Mr. S.P. Velumani (for short 'SPV') who is stated to have risen from a very humble beginning, being the son of a mill worker in Coimbatore. SPV entered politics by joining the AIADMK, rose to become an MLA from Coimbatore region and later, became a Minister in the State Cabinet. Concededly, he was the Minister for Municipal Administration, Rural Development and Implementation of Special Programme Department in the cabinet of Mr. Edapadi Palanisamy, from 23/5/2016 to 6/5/2021.

(3.) One Mr. R.S. Bharathi, (for short 'RSB'), M.P. and Organising Secretary of the D.M.K. gave a written complaint dtd. 10/9/2018 to the Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (for short 'the DVAC') alleging inter alia that seven entities, viz., KCP Engineers Pvt. Ltd., P. Senthil and Co., Vardhan Infrastructure, Constronics India, Aalayam Foundation Pvt. Ltd., Constromall Goods Pvt. Ltd. and Invicta Meditek Ltd. were awarded various contracts by the Chennai and Coimbatore Corporations and that these entities are run by K. Chandra Prakash, Rajan Chandrasekar and Anbarasan who are, in reality, the benamis of SPV. In particular, it is alleged that Rajan Chandrasekar who owns KCP Engineers Pvt. Ltd. is an AIADMK functionary and P. Anbarasan who runs Senthil and Company is the brother of SPV. The complaint is general in nature and does not disclose any specific item of contract allegedly awarded to any of the aforesaid seven entities. For clarity, we extract the relevant portions from the said complaint dtd. 10/9/2018: