Jaffer Sadiq arrest: EPS submits memorandum to Guv Ravi over drug seizure

CHENNAI: Leader of Opposition K Palaniswami on Sunday petitioned Governor R N Ravi urging him to direct for an independent and thorough probe into the movement of finance by Jaffer Sadiq, a former functionary of the DMK and a kingpin of an international drug cartel, into the ruling party and the family business of Chief Minister M K Stalin and Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.

"We urge the Governor to order for a thorough and fair probe into the network and political connections of Jaffer Sadiq. He was closely associated with the CM and his family members. He funded the CM’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin’s trust,” Palaniswami told mediaperson after calling on Ravi. He was accompanied by senior party functionaries K P Munusamy, S P Velumani, P Thangamani, C Ve Shanmugam and D Jayakumar.

He charged that the money from the drug trafficking was being used for “political activities and campaigns of the ruling DMK party” and said the people were expecting the CM and his son and Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin should resign from their posts on moral grounds.

The NCB nabbed Sadiq, who has been operating for more than 10 years and facing cases on charges of smuggling drugs, on March 9 from Delhi.

Palaniswami denounced the top brass of the state police for sharing dais with Sadiq and said sleuths of the NCB confiscated drugs worth crores of rupees in the last 10 days. “Why were there no arrests and seizures of drugs in the last three years? It sows the seeds of doubt that the drug cartels have links with the police department. It resulted in drug culture in TN,” he claimed.

“The past suspected cover-ups and the present silence from the DMK is alarming for the state. The people elected DMK to protect them, but it is becoming more and more clear that it is the criminal and the financially affluent who would be protected by the DMK,” he said and noted they have flagged the issue to the Governor on multiple occasions.