Chennai: Madras high court has asked why a CBI probe has not been ordered against Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on the allegations of corruption charges leveled against him and for amassing wealth disproportionate to his income.
Justice G. Jayachandran, before whom a petition filed by DMK came up for hearing on Tuesday, has directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to explain as to why no probe has been initiated even after three months of a complaint making the allegations against Panneerselvam by July 23. The judge adjourned the matter to July 23 for further hearing.
DMK MP R.S. Bharathi filed a petition on behalf of DMK has alleged that OPS had abused his official position and amassed wealth in his name and in the name of his family members and their benamies. OPS made false declarations before the Income Tax Authorities and Election officials. Hence, he is liable to be punished under Income Tax Act, Representation of People Act, Indian penal code, Prohibition of Benami transactions Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Prevention of Corruption Act.
In 2016 OPS declared in his election affidavit that his income for 2014-15 was Rs 5,80,875 whereas his basic salary as an MLA came to the tune of Rs 6,60,000. During this period he was also the Chief Minister and hence he would have received more salary. Bharathi has alleged that during the same period he had purchased one Toyota Innova car worth Rs 17,85,655.
The MP said that the AIADMK leader owns lands in several places. However, he had not disclosed details of some of the lands and the income out of lands was also suppressed. This must be investigated. He noted that OPS name has been figured in the diary seized from mining baron Sekar Reddy, who has been facing money laundering charges and OPS has been accused of collecting a bribe of '4 crore from the mining baron.
Besides, Bharathi also alleged that the properties owned by his wife kept increasing. However, she is only a housewife and had no source of income. His properties worth more than Rs 140 crore were leased out to his benamis. The companies owned by his sons P. Raveendranath Kumar and V. Jayapradeep purchased several acres of land valued over Rs. 68 crore and they are also directors of several building construction firms. Bharathi said that he made a complaint on the corruption charges to DVAC on March 10, 2018 to register a case and conduct investigation. As there was no response he approached the Madras HC.
