Nueva Delhi: A politicalffest broke out in Tamil Nadu after the compliance address claimed to have “evidence” that suggests corrupt practices within Tasmac, following the agency’s raids on its employees, corporate offices of distilleries and plants.
While the DMK government categorically refuted the accusations, the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party organized a protest at the Chennai Tasmac headquarters in the middle of a large security deployment.
Arrest for opposition courts
Several opposition leaders, including state president K. Annamalai and former governor Tamilisai Soundarajan, were arrested by Chennai police in relation to the alleged Tasmac scam.
Annamalai was arrested, and after the negotiations, he was arrested and evacuated from the place in a police vehicle. Soundararajan, who left his home to attend Gherao in the Tasmac office in Egmore, was avoided by a police team, led by the Deputy Police Commissioner Snehapriya. The team had been waiting outside their home from 7 am and escorted her to the police vehicle.
“We, on behalf of Tamil Nadu BJP, had announced a protest today at Chennai Tasmac’s headquarters to protest the 1,000 million rupees of the DMK government.
Meanwhile, BJP’s state vice president Karu Nagarajan was arrested in front of his house. The city police were parked in front of the residences of the state offices of BJP and the district offices carriers from 7 am onwards, blocking their houses. The police arrested BJP workers and officers as soon as they went out to attend the BJP protest.
The workers and leaders of BJP arrested were arrested in a marriage and a community hall in the city.
DMK refutes accusations
However, Tamil Nadu Special Tax Minister, Fishil Balaji, denied accusations of 1,000 million rupees, stating that there was no basis for the claim or space for bad practices in the Tasmac tender process.
“On behalf of the searches, the ED made raids, but has not mentioned the year in which the FIR was registered. They have created a scene as if errors had happened in the recruitment of Tasmac,” said Balaji.
“For the last four years, the waiter recruitment process has been online. Without any base, they have accused us of 1,000 million corruption rupees. There is no room for bad practices in Tasmac’s tender,” he added.
What is Tasmac’s scam?
On March 13, the Central Probation Agency carried out several search operations in several facilities in many Tamil Nadu districts under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, for several crimes related to Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac).
In an X publication, the Emergency Department said: “Ed, Chennai has carried out search operations in several facilities in many Tamil Nadu districts at 06.03.2025 under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, for several crimes related to Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac) and its entities/associated people.”
“During the search operations, several incriminating documents were recovered and seized,” he added.
The central agency revealed that multiple irregularities were detected in TASMAC operations, including tender manipulation and cash transactions not counted worth 1,000 million rupees through distillery companies.
The ED declared that his research provided concrete evidence of corrupt practices within Tasmac, confirming that bribes were involved in liquor treatment in Tamil Nadu.
