With the view of tackling the trouble from the DMK government in form of raids from the state's anti-corruption agency against its leaders, the Tamil Nadu Opposition ADMK has on Thursday formed a six-member committee to support the party legally in challenging such ordeals from the ruling rival. The move has come after the residences of former ADMK Minister SP Velumani were raided by Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in connection with the allegations of corruption and irregularities. 

Velumani had served as the Minister for Municipal Administration in the previous ADMK regime and he was accused of committing irregularities in allotting the tenders and contracts of the Chennai and Coimbatore Corporations. The DVAC authorities had conducted searches at 60 places on Tuesday that belong to Velumani and his close associates. The searches on Tuesday had lasted for 12 hours and they were mainly concentrated in Chennai and Coimbatore. The DVAC had filed an FIR against Velumani and 17 others in connection to the fraudulent acts and irregularities.

While the raids had shocked the ADMK, the party had maintained that these raids are political vendetta unfolded by the DMK. On Thursday, the ADMK leadership has said that it has formed a six-member advisory committee to provide legal support to the partymen facing raids and cases in MK Stalin's administration. The announcement of a committee from the ADMK has come hours after DVAC had frozen the bank account and lockers of SP Velumani in connection to the case.

According to reports, the six-member committee consists of former ministers D Jayakumar, Thalavai Sundaram, CVe Shanmugam, PH Manoj Pandian, Inbadurai, and Babu Murugavel. In a joint statement, ADMK leaders Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam had said that there was a rise in cases against the party functionaries every day with a motive of retaliating at the instigation of the ruling party. Both the leaders have added that the committee will extend full legal support to the partymen when the political opponents file false cases. The leaders further appealed to the partymen to approach the committee and get it redressed. 

The ADMK leadership has asserted that the party would defend all those who work relentlessly for the party and people. Meanwhile, the DVAC authorities have recovered cash Rs 13.08 lakh, land documents, financial transaction papers, documents of Rs 2 crore fixed deposit, documents concerning the corporations, and hard disks. The authorities had begun works to compile the evidence against the former minister while the searches had continued for the second straight day on Wednesday at the properties of his close associates including KCP Engineers, which, as per the DVAC, had observed close ties with Velumani's family.

Two days after conducting the raids, DVAC had given a big blow to Velumani as his bank account and bank lockers have on Thursday frozen by the authorities in connection to the corruption case. According to our sources, the DVAC had written to the respective banks directing them to freeze the account and lockers of SP Velumani and the DVAC authorities have been reviewing the recovered documents and his assets and it has been expected that the former minister would be summoned for an investigation into the matter. 

On the other hand, Velumani had on Wednesday taken a flight from Chennai to Tuticorin to offer prayers in a temple in the southern district and later, returned to the capital on the same day. It must be noted that the Coimbatore police had filed a case against ten ADMK MLAs and several leaders for violating the Covid-19 protocols by gathering before Velumani's residence in Kuniamuthur in the district to protest against the raids. Earlier last month, the DVAC had conducted a similar scale of searches at the residences for former ADMK Minister MR Vijayabaskar. He served as the Minister of Transport in the previous regime and the searches at his residence were related on the grounds of amassing more wealth beyond his income.