Madras High Court directs DVAC to file criminal case against DMK minister K N Nehru

The AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP I S Inbadurai had gone to the court after the DVAC refused to file a case against Nehru based on a dossier sent by the ED despite multiple reminders from the Central agency.

Chennai: In a setback to the ruling DMK ahead of the April-May assembly elections, the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to register a criminal case against Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru based on inputs alleging a cash-for-jobs scam by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). 

The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shirvastava and Justice G Arul Murugan concluded that the voluminous materials shared by the ED in a detailed dossier to the Tamil Nadu police in October 2025 was sufficient to register a case, while hearing a petition demanding registration of a FIR by AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP I S Inbadurai. 

The MP had gone to the court after the DVAC refused to file a case against Nehru based on a dossier sent by the ED despite multiple reminders from the Central agency. 

The High Court asking the DVAC to register a case against Nehru and his associates gave enough fodder for the opposition to attack the DMK government led by Chief Minister M K Stalin on the issue of corruption. The AIADMK, BJP, and TVK welcomed the court direction and predicted the downfall of the DMK regime in the assembly elections. 

In the dossier, the ED had 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. 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. 

The bench said it finds that the source material was sufficient enough disclosing the commission of a cognisable offence for the purpose of registering a case. The court also said ED’s communication could not be treated as a mere complaint since the dossier has a voluminous set of evidence disclosing a cognisable offence. 

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. 

The ED had alleged that the cash-for-jobs scam pertain 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 also 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.

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. 

Premises connected to Nehru, his son and 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.