DMK slams AIADMK for asking state govt to not appeal against Kallakurichi hooch case transfer to CBI

CHENNAI: Hitting back at Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami over the transfer of Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case to the CBI, the ruling DMK on Thursday said that it was EPS who rushed to the apex court against a verdict on the transfer of a case to the central agency

The rebuttal comes after Palaniswami appealed to the State government not to challenge the Madras High Court’s order to transfer the case to the CBI.

Briefing media persons on the issue at party headquarters Anna Arivalayam, DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi said, "EPS has pawned (sold) his conscience before issuing the statement. The DMK never sought a CBI probe."

Reminding that in 2018, when DMK filed a petition in the HC over alleged corruption in the Highways Department during the AIADMK regime to the tune of about Rs 4,800 crore, the court had ordered a CBI investigation.

"We had not sought a probe by the CBI, but the court directed that... it was Palaniswami who obtained a stay from the Supreme Court against a central agency’s probe," said Bharathi who was the petitioner in the tender case. When that case later came up for hearing in the apex court, the DMK leader said that it was DMK which submitted that it had no objection to Palaniswami's plea against the CBI probe. The ruling party leader hinted that making a demand for a CBI probe had not been a preferred option of his party.

Taking a veiled dig at the conduct of CBI, Bharathi referred to the HC order directing CBI probe into the seizure of Rs 571 crore stacked in a container truck ahead of the 2016 Assembly poll in Tirupur, and said, "The AIADMK was in power at that time. Late J Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister of the state then. Election officials seized the cash and the DMK moved the High Court then. In 2017-18, the HC had ordered a CBI probe into the issue. Today, we are in the year 2024. Did the CBI commence an investigation? You have to inform the people after checking with concerned officials. One needs no better example of how the CBI investigates than this case."

It is not a question of one or two rupees. Rs 571 crore was seized in the container, RS Bharathi said. The CBI neither found out who the money belonged to nor did it take any steps to do that and inform the people, to date, he added. "This is CBI's investigation for you," Bharathi rebuked Palaniswami.

Stoutly defending the action taken by the State government on the Kallakurichi issue, which he said includes swift arrest of culprits, Bharathi reiterated that it was only Palaniswami who approached the apex court against the High court order transferring a case of alleged corruption to CBI.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday transferred to CBI, the investigation into the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case, in which 67 people died after consuming illicit liquor. Following the HC order, State Law Minister S Regupathy said that Chief Minister Stalin would decide on moving an appeal before the apex court against the HC ruling and the State government would exercise its right to appeal. Minister Regupathy also defended the CB-CID probe and said that it was progressing in the correct direction.

The AIADMK, which was one of the petitioners in the HC in the hooch tragedy case, welcomed the court ruling, calling it a victory for its continued fight for justice. AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami insisted that the DMK regime must not file an appeal against the HC verdict if it had faulted on the issue.

In the case alleged by Bharathi, the CBI had filed a closure report before the Madras High Court in 2017 that the Rs 570 crore cash seized was owned by the State Bank of India, being transported from Coimbatore to Visakhapatnam.