KARUR: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) registered a case against former DMK minister V Senthilbalaji on Wednesday in connection with alleged large-scale irregularities in the functioning of Tasmac between 2021 and 2025. He was also questioned by DVAC sleuths in Chennai. Simultaneously, DVAC officials conducted searches at 45 locations across Tamil Nadu linked to the alleged irregularities in Tasmac.This is the second FIR registered against Senthil Balaji after TVK formed govt. Earlier this month Senthilbalaji was booked on charges of poaching TVK MLAs. He had denied the charges and said he would face the case legally. “We have nothing to fear because we have not committed anything wrong. We will face the case,’’ Senthilbalaji told reporters.Besides Senthilbalaji, former Tasmac managing director S Visakan, former senior regional managers T Ramadurai Murugan and R Panneer Selvam, Senthilbalaji’s ex-personal assistant Bhaskar, alleged middleman Rathesh Raj Shanmugavel and S Karthik were also booked under Prevention of Corruption Act by the special investigation cell of DVAC.The FIR stated that there were irregularities in the allotment of bar licences, manipulation of transport tenders and inflated transactions involving distilleries, breweries, transport firms and bottling companies. DVAC sleuths said bar licence tenders were manipulated through cartelisation, proxy ownership and the use of consecutively numbered demand drafts. “Visakan (then managing director) used to follow the directions of Rathesh Raj Shanmugavel as per the instructions received by him from Senthilbalaji,’’ the FIR said.DVAC sleuths accused Rathesh Raj of exercising ‘undue influence over Tasmac’s functioning’ — including liquor brand approvals, transfers and bar licence tenders.“Political people around Coimbatore, Karur and other districts insisted on and collected party funds from bar owners, and they are referred to as the ‘Karur Gang’,” the agency’s FIR said. The agency also alleged that distilleries generated unaccounted cash through inflated invoices for used liquor bottles and channelled the proceeds as kickbacks to Tasmac officials in exchange for favourable supply orders.The FIR further said that Tasmac shops collected amounts above the maximum retail price, with customers charged up to 500 extra for foreign liquor and 10 to 100 above the MRP for other liquor brands. Investigators also said that transport contracts were awarded by misusing earnest money deposit demand drafts and bypassing prescribed tender procedures.Teams of DVAC sleuths conducted searches at Senthibalaji’s residence in Rameshwarapatti in Karur district, properties linked to his associates, a TASMAC warehouse in Karur, and TASMAC offices, warehouses and distilleries in Chennai. Raids were also carried out in Coimbatore, Pudukkottai, Tiruvarur, Karur, Thanjavur, Namakkal, Tirupur, Erode, the Nilgiris, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Villupuram and Sivaganga districts. A DVAC statement said the agency seized incriminating documents during the searches.The searches were conducted even as Senthilbalaji appeared at the Triplicane police station in Chennai to comply with bail conditions in a separate case relating to the alleged attempt to induce a TVK MLA to change political allegiance. DVAC officials did not disclose the outcome of the searches. The investigation is continuing.
