Velumani approaches HC for quashing FIR in tender irregularity case

CHENNAI: AIADMK leader SP Velumani has approached the Madras High Court for a direction to quash a FIR registered against him by the DVAC on charges of awarding the Greater Chennai Corporation and Coimbatore Municipal Corporation tenders illegally during his stint as the Local Administration Minister.

The first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala on hearing the petition by Velumani had adjourned the same to August 30 for further arguments.

Velumani submitted that the DVAC had filed an FIR on August 9, 2021, in this case under Sections 120B read with 420, 409 IPC, and Sections 13 (2) read with 13 (1) (c) and 13 (1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 read with 109 IPC.

“The FIR was filed on the basis of the case filed by Arappor Iyakkam. The case is a politically motivated one. The court-appointed investigation officer who probed the matter had filed a final report saying that there is no prima facie case against the current petitioner and dealt with all the 14 allegations made against the petitioner concluding that the petitioner was in no way connected to the case, ” Velumani’s counsel submitted.

Velumani’s counsel also noted that neither the PIL petitioner (Arappor) nor the state had challenged the preliminary report of the investigation officer R Ponni, SP in DVAC.

“The respondent does not even refer to the findings given by the officer in the preliminary inquiry report. It is totally illegal to ignore the findings given in the report of the preliminary inquiry and register an FIR by making an allegation, totally contrary to the findings in the preliminary inquiry report,” Velumani noted.

However, the government advocate questioned the maintainability of the petition submitting that the petitioner cannot approach the bench for a case booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and he has to approach a single judge first.