ADMK has opened its golden jubilee celebrations with trouble after some successive events had shocked the party's leadership and disrupted the festivity. The party has planned to observe its 50th anniversary by conducting month-long events across the state and while expelled leader VK Sasikala has started her innings to take over the party by vowing as the general secretary, the current leadership has braced up more tensions on Monday after the Tamil Nadu's anti-corruption agency has stormed into the residence of former ADMK Minister C Vijayabaskar and conducted raids. 

The ADMK party had on Sunday marked its 50th anniversary and on Monday, the sleuths from Directorate and Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) of Tamil Nadu had knocked the residence and properties that belong to Vijayabaskar, who had served as the Tamil Nadu Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the previous ADMK regime led by Edappadi K Palaniswami. Vijayabaskar is currently serving as an ADMK MLA from the Viralimalai constituency and he had been under the scanner of the investigative agencies for the past few years. 

The search has been carried out under the allegations of corruption and amassing more wealth beyond his income sources. According to reports, the officials of the DVAC had launched simultaneous searches at the houses of Vijayabaskar and his relatives in Pudukottai and in Chennai on Monday -October 18. The authorities have said that the searches have been conducted at 43 locations of which 30 are in Pudukottai district, including the former minister's house at his native Illupur and in the educational institutions run by his family-established Mother Teresa Educational and Charitable Trust. 

Apart from Pudukottai, the DVAC officials had conducted searches in the premises that belong to Vijayabaskar and his family members in Chennai, Trichy, and Coimbatore districts. These searches are being conducted after filing a case against Vijayabaskar. It has been reported that the DVAC had filed a disproportionate assets case against the former minister and his wife. The FIR, which was filed by DVAC's Pudukottai unit, has said that Vijayabaskar had indulged in corrupt practices and added more wealth by amassing assets on the names of his dependents.    

The FIR further revealed shocking information that Vijayabaskar's wealth has scaled up at a rocket pace in five years. In 2016, while contesting in the assembly polls, he had filed the nomination for election in which he had mentioned Rs 6.41 crore as his total assets. In five years, in 2021 while he contested again in the polls, he had declared that he has assets worth Rs 58 crore. The FIR has also included the properties that he bought in these five years and these assets were registered in Vijaybaskar's and his wife Ramya's names.  

During his period in office, Vijayabaskar and his wife were alleged to have been in possession of pecuniary resources and movable and immovable properties valued at about Rs 27.22 crore, which were disproportionate to their known sources of income. These properties were in the form of deposits in banks, jewels, motor vehicles, agricultural lands, house sites, insurance policies, investment in partnership firms, and buildings. After 2016, Vijayabaskar has bought a BMW car worth Rs 53 lakh, jewels worth Rs 41 lakh, a house in Chennai's T Nagar for Rs 14 crore, agricultural land in Kancheepuram for Rs 4 crore, and had made several investments worth Rs 29 crore.  

The DVAC has said that by possessing these assets under her name, the former minister's wife Ramya had deliberately abetted Vijayabaskar in acquiring the properties. The DVAC has registered a case against the couple under section 109 -the punishment of abetment of the Indian Penal Code and under several sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Tamil Nadu's anti-corruption agency has alleged that the trust established by Vijayabaskar's family was running 14 educational institutions, including engineering, arts and science, agriculture, education, nursing, pharmacy, polytechnic, catering, and physical education institutions.

Several teams of DVAC were deployed to conduct the search across the state. The reports say that the search will be lasting throughout Monday. It must be noted that C Vijayabaskar is the fourth former ADMK Minister to have come under the scanner of the DVAC after the DMK has come to power. The previous three were MR Vijayabaskar - former Transport Minister, SP Velumani- former Local Administration Minister, and KC Veeramani - former Commercial Taxes Minister. The DVAC officials have been questioning C Vijayabaskar in the case in his residence in Kilpauk, Chennai.