DVAC raids 19 premises linked to former Minister KN Nehru and brother

Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) teams began simultaneous searches early Saturday morning (September 5) at 19 locations across the state linked to former Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Minister KN Nehru and his brother, KN Ravichandran.

The searches cover Nehru’s residence in Alwarpet and Ravichandran’s house in RA Puram, an office associated with Ravichandran in Adyar, and other premises in Thiruvanmiyur, Anna Nagar and elsewhere in Chennai.

Searches draw DMK protest

DVAC officials are conducting a raid at the residence of KN Nehru in Thillai Nagar, Trichy, even as a large crowd of party cadres has gathered outside the house and is raising slogans against the investigating team.

Party workers have thronged the street in front of the premises since morning, accusing the vigilance officials of acting at the behest of the ruling TVK government and turning the search into a political spectacle. Police have been deployed to keep the crowd from entering the compound while the search inside continues.

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DVAC officials said the operation is based on allegations of large-scale irregularities in awarding government contracts within the MAWS department and collecting money in the name of a 'party fund'.

ED alleges ₹1,020 crore in payments

On December 3 last year, the Enforcement Directorate sent a detailed communication to the then Tamil Nadu DGP and Chief Secretary. The agency alleged that contracts for sanitation-worker housing, road works, NABARD schemes and contract hiring of sanitation staff were steered towards favoured firms. According to the letter, commissions of 7.5 to 10 per cent of the contract value were collected as bribes and party funds, totalling about ₹1,020 crore. Supporting documents were enclosed. The ED asked the State to act against Nehru, Ravichandran and related officials.

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The letter got leaked on social media and triggered a storm. The ED later approached the court over the leak. A CBCID inquiry into how the confidential communication reached the public remains pending.

Earlier MAWS cases also flagged

Separately, the ED had earlier flagged a cash-for-jobs racket in MAWS recruitments (over 2,500 posts) and a transfer-and-posting racket involving hundreds of officers. After the change of government, DVAC registered an FIR in June 2026 based on the ED material. Proceedings have since been under judicial watch.

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The new administration has treated the ED dossiers as the starting point for State-level action. DVAC has been tasked with converting the central agency’s letters into FIRs and searches, first on MAWS contracts and recruitments linked to Nehru, and in parallel on TASMAC.

In late July, DVAC booked former minister V. Senthil Balaji and others in a TASMAC case covering bar-licence allotment, transport tenders, procurement and brand approvals during 2021–25, and searched more than 40 locations. Officials said that the same method-ED papers plus DVAC follow-up is now being applied to MAWS. The Saturday raids on Nehru-linked premises are the latest step in that sequence.

DMK calls raids political vendetta

The DMK has called the raids a political vendetta. Party leaders argue that the TVK government is using Enforcement Directorate documents prepared during the previous regime to settle scores, and that relying on those papers shows the present government is working in tandem with the BJP-led Centre. They maintain that the allegations were already before the courts and that simultaneous action on TASMAC and MAWS is timed for political effect rather than a clean-handed anti-corruption drive.

DVAC teams were still at several locations when this report was filed. No official inventory of seized material has been released.