ED writes to Tamil Nadu DGP, seeks probe into ‘bribes of Rs 25-35 lakh’ per post in state govt dept

The ED claims to have recovered the information while investigating an alleged bank fraud, linked by it earlier to the brother of MAWS Minister and senior DMK leader K N Nehru.

The agency says it stumbled on the material when it conducted searches at Chennai, Trichy and Coimbatore in April 2025 in connection with the alleged bank fraud case. As per the ED’s letter, its seizures then led it to “incriminating digital evidence such as photos, WhatsApp chats, documents… clearly (showing) that huge manipulations were done in the… selection/examination process of officers and staff by MAWS Department. Bribes amounting to about Rs 25 lakh to Rs 35 lakh per selection/post… were collected.”

Sources in the state government denied any wrongdoing in the recruitment process.

Interestingly, the Madras High Court recently quashed the ED’s Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) over the alleged bank fraud, which was linked by it to firms associated with True Value Homes and N Ravichandran, the brother of Minister Nehru. A Division Bench held that no crime was made out in the alleged diversion of funds, and that no public officials were involved, effectively removing the legal foundation for a money-laundering probe in the matter.

The ED raids in April 2025, which also included premises linked to Minister Nehru’s family, had been criticised by DMK leaders as politically motivated and belated.

The ED’s letter to the DGP points out that Chief Minister M K Stalin handed out appointment letters for MAWS posts to about 2,500 candidates at a public gathering on August 6, 2025, and has attached a 230-plus-page note covering roughly 150 candidates. As per its enclosure description, the note includes “photos/ documents/ hawala notes/ cash transactions” and correlates the same with the MAWS result sheets.

“The evidence collected shows that: (a) Certain public servants, politicians, their close associates, private persons, candidates… were involved… (b) (they) had access to confidential examination information… (c) collected bribes… (d) The bribes were collected in cash and transferred using hawala networks… (f) Candidates who paid bribes were selected by manipulating the examination process,” the ED letter says.

The agency adds that it is not opening a money-laundering case at this stage and is, instead, invoking Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to share information with the state police, asking them to act first. “The ED can investigate the offence of money laundering only when a scheduled offence is registered by a Law Enforcement Agency… It is requested that an FIR may be registered… A copy of the FIR may be provided to this office for initiation of investigations under the PMLA,” the ED says, listing a series of questions the police should probe, including who had access to confidential exam data, who at Anna University (the exam authority) was involved, and how many marks were manipulated.

Noting that the material could be “a tip of the iceberg”, the ED letter says: “Many candidates made it to the list by bribing… Many meritorious and deserving candidates lost the opportunity of a lifetime… The evidence in the attached note clearly makes out a case of corruption, cheating and money laundering.”

The recruitment the ED has highlighted concerned 2,538 posts – including that of assistant engineers, town planning officers, junior engineers, and sanitary inspectors – for which about 1.12 lakh candidates applied in early 2024.

The earlier bank-fraud investigation that the ED was conducting followed an FIR filed by the CBI in 2021, on a complaint by Indian Overseas Bank alleging diversion of a Rs 30 crore loan granted by it in 2013 to a company for a wind-energy project in Tiruppur. The CBI subsequently filed a chargesheet.

A senior ED official told The Indian Express that the letter was “a procedural reality”, as “without a fresh predicate offence registered by a competent law-enforcement agency, the central body cannot pursue a money-laundering case”.

Several DMK leaders in Tamil Nadu, which goes to elections next year, are facing probes by Central agencies, including former minister K Ponmudy, who is being probed by the ED for alleged money laundering related to sand mining; Senthil Balaji, who had to resign as minister after the ED arrested him over a probe related to an alleged scam during his tenure as Transport Minister under the AIADMK government (Balaji is separately facing an Income Tax probe); Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy, who has been raided by the ED over an alleged disproportionate assets case; and Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Minister for Tourism Dr Mathiventhan, who have both been raided for alleged money laundering and property irregularities.

The DMK has called the cases politically motivated.