The Tamil Nadu government told the Madras High Court on May 5 that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has registered an FIR in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department during former Minister K.N. Nehru’s tenure.
Later in the day, the High Court restrained authorities from taking any further action until the next hearing on June 23.
When the case came up for hearing today, the Advocate General informed the First Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan that the DVAC had officially registered a First Information Report (FIR) into the recruitment irregularities in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department.
Senior counsel for Nehru, P.H. Arvindh Pandian, made a mention before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan after the DVAC registered an FIR against Nehru. He added that, despite an undertaking given by then Advocate General P.S. Raman that the issue would not be precipitated until the final hearing of the cases on June 23, the FIR had now been registered.
To this, Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the Court that the FIR was registered based on a legal opinion rendered by him after examining the materials available in the case. The AG further submitted that there was nothing on record to show that his predecessor had given any oral undertaking to the Court that no coercive action would be taken by the DVAC until the next hearing on June 23, 2026.
Arguing further, the AG said that even if such an undertaking had been made, it would have been done only on the instructions of the then DMK government, which, according to him, intended to protect its minister.
One of the netizens pointed out that the TVK government has now thrown the ball into the Central government’s court to move further, indicating its readiness to support the probe to meet its logical conclusion. Earlier, it was alleged that the DMK-led government did not allow central enforcement agencies to act against tainted ministers.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier sent a letter seeking registration of a case, alleging that bribes amounting to several crores were collected in connection with 2,538 appointments, including posts such as Assistant Engineer, Junior Engineer, and Sanitary Inspector, in the MAWS Department.
AIADMK MP I.S. Inbadurai and K. Athinarayanan, President of the Maruthu Senai Society, Madurai, had sought directions to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) to register a case.
It is interesting to note that, before the Assembly polls were announced, the Chief Justice-led Bench, on February 20, 2026, had directed that an FIR be registered forthwith. Subsequently, Inbadurai filed a contempt petition, contending that despite the Court’s directions, no FIR had been registered. During the proceedings, then Advocate General P.S. Raman informed the Court that the DVAC was contemplating filing a review petition against the order directing registration of the FIR.
The 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 ranging between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 35 lakh per post. However, MAWS Minister K.N. Nehru rejected the allegations levelled by the ED, stating that every procedure laid down in law, including a written examination, was followed before selecting 2,538 people for various posts in the Department.
The agency said that details of the alleged scam came to light from documents recovered from premises connected to Nehru during raids in April 2025, which pointed to a “deep-rooted” and “systemic corruption network” within the Department. The ED said 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 allegedly collected with the active knowledge of the politicians and officers involved in the process. They allegedly manipulated the examination process.
Premises connected to Nehru, his son, Perambalur Arun Nehru, and businessman-brother K.N. Ravichandran were raided by the ED in April 2025. The raids were conducted after the ED took cognisance of an alleged bank fraud amounting to Rs 30 crore involving Chennai-based TRUEDOM EPC India Private Limited, where Ravichandran serves as a director.
Already, Lok Sabha MP S. Jagathrakshakan and DMK former ministers V. Senthil Balaji, K. Ponmudy and Anitha Radhakrishnan are on the ED radar and are facing PMLA cases, for which the DVAC has been asked to register FIRs.
According to political observers, “This is a major setback for the DMK, which is smarting from its defeat at the hands of the TVK. The FIR also comes a week after ADGP A. Arun, who was accused by the TVK of being too close to the DMK government, was appointed as the head of the DVAC.”
When appointing Arun to head the DVAC, despite him being known for close ties with the DMK and for taking action against journalists by booking them under the Goondas Act, he has now, according to observers, demonstrated loyalty to the current dispensation. It is like giving power to a person who fully understands the system and providing him an opportunity to prove his worth and loyalty.
Last week, the High Court severely censured DVAC Chief and former Chennai Police Commissioner A. Arun, IPS, observing that he habitually issued reckless and deliberate preventive detention orders under the Goondas Act for “extraneous reasons” without any threat to public order.
