DVAC probing bribery issue: Edappadi K Palaniswami

Chennai: With the Opposition trying to put his government on the mat in the TN Assembly on the tobacco product bribery issue, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami Thursday said the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) was already conducting a probe into the issue of gutka being sold in the state in connivance with a minister and top police officials.

Responding to the Opposition Leader MK Stalin’s demand that a CBI probe be ordered into the issue of a minister and top police officials being bribed by gutka manufacturers for allowing the sale of chewable tobacco, the Chief Minister said the DVAC began probing into the issue after the then Chennai City Police Commissioner S.George wrote to the home secretary on the issue .

The Opposition, however, alleges that Mr George himself has been named in a diary recovered by I-T officials that is said to contain details about how money was paid to top officials.

Virtually rejecting Mr Stalin’s demand for a CBI inquiry, Mr Palaniswami said the government had on January 23 ordered the DVAC to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegations and that the probe was on. “The probe was ordered in response to a letter that the then Chennai Police Commissioner had written to the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary on December 22 last year that with the help of some Chennai Police officials, anti-socials were involved in the manufacture, sale and distribution of banned gutka,” Mr Palaniswami said.

He also recalled that the Madras High Court had on January 27 observed, there was no need for its interference in the matter, while dismissing a writ plea filed by an individual seeking a CBI probe into the alleged gutka scam. “We see no reason why the court should step into this issue when the authorities are themselves conscious of the gravity of the issue,” Palaniswami quoted the First Bench, comprising then Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sundar.
Immediately after Mr Palaniswami’s reply, DMK members, led by Mr Stalin staged a walkout saying that they were not satisfied with the chief minister’s statement. Earlier, Speaker P Dhanapal, while allowing Mr Stalin to raise the issue, said the Leader of Opposition had “presented some evidence” to him in his chamber.

While demanding the CBI probe, Mr Stalin said the I-T Department has seized a diary in which a minister and top police officials were named as having received bribes periodically to allow its sale though it is banned across the country.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Mr Stalin said the CM minister should immediately sack the Health Minister and top police officials from their posts due to their alleged involvement. “If truth has to be established in this case, only a CBI inquiry can do that,” Mr Stalin said.