In connection with the Tamil Nadu Housing Board scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Wednesday that it has attached assets totaling 14.23 crore from Parvin Jaffar, the wife of retired IPS officer Jaffar Sait, and R Durgashankar, son of K Rajamanickam, former IPS officer and secretary to late Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi, as well as T Udayakumar, the owner of Landmark Construction.
The agency has also named a minister in the current government.
ED said it initiated the investigation based on the FIR registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).
ED said there has been wrongful allotment of Government Discretionary Quota (GDQ) plots by former minister Periyasamy. Periyasamy was housing minister from 2006-2011 under the previous DMK regime led by CM Karunanidhi, who currently serves as the Co-operation Minister in the M K Stalin-led cabinet.
“A residential plot was allotted to Jaffar Sait under GDQ without being eligible for such allotment. Rajamanickam, who was the then secretary to the late CM Karunanidhi, got the adjacent plot allotted to his son R Durgashankar in violation of the norms of GDQ. Parvin Jaffar and R Durgashankar entered into an agreement with Udayakumar of LandMark Construction for joint development of the combined land to maximise the fruits of crime,” ED said in a statement.
ED said Parvin, Durgashankar and Udhayakumar generated a sum of ₹14.86 crore from the sale of the flats, while movable and immovable properties worth Rs. 14.23 crore were provisionally attached.
“Udaykumar financed the said crime despite knowing well that the allottees were not the owners as on the day of the Joint Development Agreement,” ED said.
The agency further said the said monetary consideration received from Udayakumar was used by Parvin Jaffar and R Durgashankar to pay the cost of illegally allotted plots by Tamil Nadu Housing Board. “Parvin Jaffar, R Durgashankar and T Udayakumar generated huge amounts of proceeds of crime by way of building a multi-floor apartment,” said the probing agency.