Chennai/Mannargudi: In a major embarrassment to the government, the Mannargudi police have registered FIR against food minister R. Kamaraj and an aide alleging cheating.
The police action followed a rap from the Supreme Court questioning the delay in registering FIR against Kamaraj and giving the government time till Monday to submit detailed report.
Was the minister above law, asked the Supreme Court when the matter came up on Wednesday (May 3). Tamil Nadu counsel filed a compliance report on Saturday at the SC registry stating that the Mannargudi police have filed FIR against minister Kamaraj.
Following this, opposition leaders have demanded that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami should sack Kamaraj. “Now that the police have registered FIR against Kamaraj, that too after intervention by the Supreme Court, we demand that the CM should dismiss the minister without further delay”, said DMK spokesman TKS Elangovan, MP. PMK chief Dr S. Ramadoss too has made a similar demand for Kamaraj’s sack.
Realtor S.V.S. Kumar from Tiruvarur district had filed a petition in SC seeking intervention, alleging that the Mannargudi police did not act on his complaint against the minister and aide M. Ramakrishnan, working as assistant public relations officer (APRO) in state secretariat.
In that complaint of March 10, he had alleged that he had paid Ramakrishnan '15 lakh as the fee demanded for getting the occupant of a property he had purchased on Sringeri Mutt Road in Mylapore. The man had introduced himself as Kamaraj's cousin. When Ramakrishnan did not keep his word, he approached Kamaraj who promised to get the property vacated for him but asked for a 'loan' of '30 lakh for his election expenses. Once he got elected and became minister, both he and Ramakrishnan became inaccessible despite his attempts to meet them to get back his money even as the occupant of his Chennai property stayed put there, Kumar alleged.
He moved the Madras high court seeking help to recover the money and also complaining that minister Kamaraj and aide Ramakrishnan threatened to kill him. The Mannargudi police told the court that Kumar did not appear before the DSP despite being called several times for inquiry of his complaint. The high court had then told the police to provide Kumar with protection as he was under threat from influential persons.
With the police remaining indifferent to his complaint, Kumar moved the Supreme Court seeking intervention, which has now happened. Deccan Chronicle made several attempts to reach Kamaraj for his response to the police filing FIR, but his secretary kept saying through Saturday evening that the minister "is still busy in his meetings". Sources close to the minister ruled out resignation, saying the police has evidence of Kumar's alleged misdemeanors.
