Chennai: Over 40 locations connected to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP and former Union minister S. Jagathrakshakan were raided by the Income tax (IT) Department Thursday. Apart from his residence in Chennai’s Adyar and his office, some educational institutions and relatives’ residences are being searched in connection with a suspected case of tax evasion.
DMK President and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin called the raids part of the “vindictive politics” of the BJP government at the Centre.
“Arresting AAP MP Sanjay Singh and raiding DMK MP Jagathrakshakan’s home are clear examples of their misuse of independent investigating agencies for political ends against INDIA bloc leaders,” said Stalin in a post on X, adding that deliberate persecution of opposition leaders is an “assault on democracy”.
Accusing the BJP of disregarding the rule of law and democracy, Stalin noted that the BJP has forgotten the Supreme Court’s warning to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to be transparent and fair.
Demanding that the BJP stop its witch-hunt, Stalin said the BJP is “clearly afraid” of the growing unity among opposition parties and further added that “BJP will have to focus on addressing the real issues.”
The IT department is yet to release a statement on the raids conducted on the MP’s properties Thursday.
Earlier this year in May, IT raids were conducted on TN Minister Senthil Balaji in an alleged cash for jobs scam case followed by ED raids in June. Later, in July, ED raids were conducted against Tamil Nadu higher education minister K. Ponmudy and his son MP Gautham Sigamani.
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Who is S Jagathrakshakan?
A four-time Lok Sabha member, Jagathrakshakan was Union minister of state for information and broadcasting ministry from 2009 to 2012; and for new and renewable energy, commerce and industry from 2012 to 2013 during the second UPA government.
The MP from Arakkonam in north Tamil Nadu began his political career with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and later moved to the DMK. IN 2004 he floated a Vanniyar community-based party, which later merged with the DMK in 2009.
In the past, Jagathrakshakan has run into several controversies. In 2009, Times Now TV in collaboration with The Times of India in a video exposé had found that a medical college in Chennai, in which the then Union minister of state (MoS) for information and broadcasting was the chairman, had taken for Rs 20 lakhs for an MBBS seat.
In 2012, he again was in the spotlight for being involved in a coal block allocation scam. It was found that in 2007, when the Jagathrakshagan-owned JR Power Gen Pvt Ltd was just five days old, it had signed an MoU with the state-owned Puducherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation (PIPDIC) for the coal block.
The DMK had reportedly defended him back then, stating that he was not a minister or an MP in 2007 and was free to enter into any business term as a businessman.
In 2020, two FIRs were registered against Jagathrakshakan by the crime branch-criminal investigation department (CB-CID) and the ED for allegedly illegally usurping the properties of Chrome Leather Factory in Chromepet. Both the CB-CID and ED cases were quashed in 2022.
In April 2023, he was also named in the first part of the BJP’s exposé, DMK files, where the BJP state unit claimed that Jagathrakshakan owned Rs 50,219.37 crores.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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