Madras HC orders case against DMK minister

BEngaluru: The Madras heights margaret court on fri directed the Tamil Nadu board of directors of Vigilance and Anti putrefaction (DVAC) to “immediately register a criminal case” against DMK Minister KN Nehru in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam pegged at over ₹630 crore.A division bench of Chief Justice MM Shrivastava and justice G Arul Murugan said the material shared by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) disclosed the commission of a cognisable offence and left no room for delay. The court rejected the state’s contention that the DVAC could wait for the outcome of a “detailed inquiry” before registering a First Information Report (FIR).“When corruption is stated to have happened involving several hundred crores of rupees, we find that the material is sufficient enough disclosing the commission of a cognisable offence for the purposes of registering a case,” the high court said.It noted that ED had shared “voluminous details” under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on October 27, 2025, and said the State should have acted on that information without hesitation.The high court also said that even a preliminary inquiry under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita must conclude within 14 days but the Tamil Nadu government had failed to meet the deadline imposed by the law.“The state is only finding ways and means to delay registering a case,” the court said, adding that the present case was not one involving a “bare complaint” made to the DVAC. Instead, there existed “detailed information accompanied by evidence running into hundreds of pages,” provided by ED, the court said.The order came on two writ petitions seeking an FIR and probe against Nehru. While one of the petitions was filed by AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP IS Inbadurai, the other was filed by a private citizen, one K Athinarayanan of Madurai.“The State should have registered a case on the basis of the information shared by the enforcement directorate... And they could have thereafter concluded a detailed investigation to unravel the truth and bring the culprits to book,” the high court said. “It is not a case where the authorities have received a bare complaint which has necessitated the State to conduct an inquiry. In the case in hand, it is a detailed information provided by the ED with a voluminous set of evidence prima facie disclosing the commission of a cognisable offence,” it said.The judges said they felt “prima facie” that an “independent specialised agency” should ideally conduct the probe, they were choosing not to transfer the matter since the State had already entrusted the issue to the DVAC.Since the DVAC had begun a preliminary exercise, the high court directed the agency to “forthwith register a case” and conduct a “detailed and expeditious investigation.”The high court however, clarified that it was passing the present order only on Inbadurai’s plea since, during the course of the hearings it had realised that Athinarayanan had “criminal antecedents.”During the previous hearings, senior counsel NR Elango, who appeared for the DVAC, had told the Court that the agency had treated ED’s communication as first information and had commenced a “detailed inquiry” under the Vigilance Manual.Elango had said the DVAC would also write to the ED seeking any additional material. He had said that the DVAC could not register an FIR until it completed this inquiry.In its order however, the high court disagreed with the DVAC’s submissions. The judges said that ED had not merely forwarded allegations but had supplied documentary evidence that prima facie established a cognisable offence.ED Special Public Prosecutor N Ramesh had told the Court on February 6 this year that the agency had shared 232 pages of material that clearly demonstrated wrongdoing in transfers and appointments in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department.Advocate General PS Raman, who appeared for the TN government had however, questioned the provenance of the material. He had told the Court that ED had collected the documents during search and seizure operations in April 2025 in connection with a bank fraud case.Another division bench of the high court had quashed the Enforcement Case Information Report in that case on July 24, 2025. The ED therefore, Raman argued, should have returned the seized materials. Instead, the central agency retained copies and shared them with the State police three months later, Raman had told the high court.However, the Court said it was choosing to focus on the “nature of the information” rather than the controversy over its source. It said the “law required registration of a case once credible material disclosed a cognisable offence.”In January this year, ED had written to the DVAC, alleging a rupees 366 crore money laundering and corruption racket in “transfers and appointments” of officials and engineers in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department. The agency’s Chennai zonal office wrote to the State Chief Secretary and the DVAC seeking registration of an FIR against Nehru and others. It had earlier sent letters in October and December 2025 alleging “widespread” corruption in tenders and recruitments and linking the Minister to the charges.