ED raids homes of TN Minister KN Nehru, his son and his brothers

CHENNAI:  The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday searched multiple premises spread across Chennai, Tiruchy, and Coimbatore as part of an investigation against a real estate group promoted by the brother of state minister for Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply, and senior DMK leader, KN Nehru, official sources said.

The ED searches covered places belonging to Nehru, his brothers, and his son. Nehru’s late brother Ramajayam’s house was also raided by the ED.

The realty company -- TVH Group -- was founded by KN Ravichandran, brother of Nehru. The federal probe agency has conducted searches as part of a probe linked to the TVH group, the sources said.

Accordingly, raids were conducted at more than 10 places, including Adyar, Teynampet, Alwarpet, CIT Colony, Besant Nagar, and MRC Nagar.

According to sources, Enforcement Directorate officials have informed that raids were the result of certain bank transactions carried out by Ravi. As part of the raids, the auditor and lawyers of the construction group briefed the ED officials on the account details.

Similarly, the ED sleuths conducted a raid at the residences of minister KN Nehru and his family members in two locations in Tiruchy on Monday, and the party functionaries gathered in front of the spots, but the minister requested them to leave the place.

Two teams of ED sleuths reached 5th cross and 10th cross in Thillai Nagar in Tiruchy City, where the minister KN Nehru, his son, and Perambalur MP Arun Nehru and the family of his deceased brother KN Ramajayam were residing. The search that commenced in the morning at around 9 am went on till 5 pm.

Meanwhile, on information about the search, the party functionaries, including a few members of the corporation council, gathered at the spot, and tension gripped for a while.

Soon, the minister Nehru instructed the party leaders to move away from the spot immediately and asked them not to interfere with the works of the ED officials. Subsequently, they dispersed from the spot.

The house of Manivannan, another brother of KN Nehru, is in the TVH A Kantha apartment complex in Masakalipalayam, near Singanallur, in Coimbatore. The Enforcement Directorate officials who arrived at his house in 3 cars conducted a raid.

Reacting to ED searches, Law Minister S Regupathy hit out at the BJP-led Centre, alleging that the "Enforcement Directorate is an ally of the BJP,” just like the parties of Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) and Nitish Kumar (JD-U). "We regard the ED as their (BJP) ally and nothing more,” he told reporters here, adding it is a "non-political partner".

Meanwhile, DMK legal wing secretary and Rajya Sabha MP NR Elango, in a press conference arranged late Monday evening, said that Unlawful and delayed raids targeting DMK leaders happen whenever our Chief Minister, MK Stalin raises questions based on the Constitution. “Based on the bare minimum information provided by ED officials during the raids, it is evident that it is a case related to a bank transaction dating back to 2013, and for which the CBI had registered a charge sheet in 2021. It is not related to any corruption case,” he said.