ED alleges cash-for-jobs scam in MAWS department; Tamil Nadu govt denies charges

Chennai: In fresh trouble for the ruling DMK, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged a cash-for-jobs scam involving at least 150 of the 2,538 posts in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) department, with bribes between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 35 lakh per post. The central agency, in a detailed dossier to the Tamil Nadu Police, sought a thorough probe into the alleged scam.

However, MAWS minister K N Nehru outright rejected the allegations levelled by the ED, saying every procedure laid out in the law, including written examination, was followed before selecting 2,538 people for various posts in the department. He also alleged that the letter from ED to the Director General of Police is yet another attempt to “defame” the Dravidian model government led by the DMK after "failing in its efforts by reviving an old case related to a bank fraud".

The agency said the details of the “scam” tumbled out from documents recovered from premises connected to Nehru during raids in April 2025 that pointed to a “deep-rooted” and “systemic corruption network” within the department.

This is the second Tamil Nadu department for which the ED has alleged a massive scam after the state-owned liquor retailer Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) – the probe in the latter has been stayed by the Supreme Court.

In the dossier, the ED alleged that the cash-for-jobs scam pertained to appointment of 2,538 assistant engineers, town planning officers, junior engineers, and sanitary inspectors, for whom appointment orders were issued by Chief Minister M K Stalin.

The ED alleged that bribes between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 35 lakh were collected for each post by “certain public servants, and politicians” for favouring at least 150 candidates. The bribes were collected with the active knowledge of the politicians/officers involved in the process, the agency said, adding that these people manipulated the exam.

The agency also sought a detailed probe into the matter by the Tamil Nadu police.

Nehru, placed fourth in the pecking order of the cabinet led by Stalin, is a strongman of the DMK from Tiruchirapalli and a senior leader of the party since the times of late patriarch M Karunanidhi. He joins the list of DMK leaders to be investigated by or on the radar of the ED after V Senthil Balaji, K Ponmudy, and S Jagathrakshakan.

In the statement, Nehru said the government issued a notification in February 2024 through Anna University, the state’s premier engineering institute, to fill 2,569 posts in the MAWS department after the 2011-2021 AIADMK rule didn’t make adequate appointments.

“An exclusive website was launched for the purpose and the department received over 2 lakh applications from eligible candidates for the 2,569 posts. Exams were conducted in 591 centres in 38 districts and the results were published on September 20, 2024. Since the exams were conducted in a transparent manner, there were no objections to the results,” he said.

Thirteen selection committees scrutinised the certificates of 7,272 candidates who appeared for the exam and at the conclusion of this exercise, as many as 2,538 candidates were selected based on their marks and reservation quota. “Since the high court vacated the stay on several orders regarding the case on July 4 this year, the final list was released,” Nehru added.

Premises connected to Nehru, his son Perambalur Arun Nehru, and businessman-brother K N Ravichandran were raided in April 2025. The raids were conducted after the ED took cognizance of an alleged bank fraud amounting to Rs 30 crore involving Chennai-based TRUEDOM EPC India Private Limited, where Ravichandran serves as a director.

The ED had then said that financial transactions between TRUEDOM EPC India Private Limited and True Value Homes (TVH) -- a company owned by the same family, in which Arun served as a director before contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections -- are currently under investigation.