The ADMK may claim that the raids by the Tamil Nadu corruption watchdog were political vendetta by the DMK regime, but what was unearthed from the premises linked to former ADMK Minister KC Veeramani was a shock to the state as, after the raids, the authorities of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had exhumed a mountain of wealth - from luxury cars, US dollars, diamonds and gold jewellery, and lakhs of unaccounted cash. 

On Thursday, the authorities of DVAC had conducted searches at 28 places that are linked to Veeramani, who served as the Tamil Nadu Minister for Commercial Taxes in the previous Edappadi Palaniswami regime. Through the raids, Veeramani had become the third ADMK leader to come under scanner after MR Vijayabaskar and SP Velumani. The raids linked to Veeramani had taken place in the districts of Chennai, Krishnagiri, Thirupattur, and Tiruvannamalai. The former minister was raided a day after the DVAC had filed a case against him. 

According to reports, the Vellore unit of the DVAC had on Wednesday filed a disproportionate assets case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Veeramani. In the FIR, the DVAC had said that from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2021, Veeramani had piled up huge wealth that wasn't appropriate to his known sources of income and the wealth was registered in his and his mother's name. It must be noted that Chennai-based organization Arappor Iyakkam, campaigning against corruption, had filed a complaint recently to the DVAC in which it has demanded an investigation into Veeramani's pile of wealth.

The officials have said that the former minister had acquired Rs 28 crore worth of assets that didn't have proper accounts. They had ascertained that the acquired assets were 654 per cent high from his income that he accounted for in his savings in 2016. The FIR read, "Veeramani was involved in corrupt activities and intentionally enriched him illicitly and acquired properties and pecuniary resources in his name which are disproportionate to his known sources of income."

The FIR had further alleged that Veeramani's assets had increased from Rs 25.9 crore to Rs 56.6 crore in the period between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2021. His income during his period was estimated at Rs 4.3 crore and expenses at 2.56 crore while he had savings of Rs 1.83 crore. This huge boom in his assets without a proper source constitutes an offence of criminal misconduct punishable under multiple sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

After the searches, the DVAC officials had said they had seized a large amount of cash, including US dollars, luxury cars, and jewellery, In an official statement, DVAC has said that Rs 34 lakh cash, US dollars worth Rs 1.80 lakh, nine luxury cars including a Rolls Royce, 4.987 kilograms of gold, 47 grams of diamond, and 7.2 kilograms of silver were seized in the raids conducted simultaneously at the former minister's premises, and residences, and office of his close friends and associates. It has been reported that the raids were conducted at two places in Bangalore and the authorities had also seized several bank passbooks and land documents from his residential premises.