ED terms DVAC raid on its office 'illegal'

An ED officer, in his letter to the DGP, said the DVAC team accessed sensitive case records, information, and internal documents of the agency related to other cases which have no link with the alleged search case, and 'ransacked the entire office.'

Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday wrote to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) seeking registration of an FIR against officials from the anti-corruption watchdog, DVAC, for their raiding the Central agency’s office in Madurai, which is “not only illegal, but also mala fide.”

In a letter to DGP Shankar Jiwal, Brijesh Beniwal, Assistant Director, Madurai Sub-Zonal office, ED, alleged that “unknown persons” and officials of the DVAC barged into his office on December 1 and continued to stay there till the morning of December 2.

Claiming that no search warrant was provided by any of the officers, including DSP M Sathyaseelan, the ED officer stated that the "so-called police persons" were not in uniform and were without a badge. He mentioned that as many as 35 persons continuously remained in the office of the Enforcement Directorate, Madurai, from 2:30 pm on December 1 to 7:15 am on December 2.

“Time and again, we have questioned the presence of so many persons, and repeatedly sought for a copy of FIR, search authorization, identity and authorization of the so many persons present. However, our request simply fell on deaf ears,” Beniwal said, adding that the DVAC officials opened case files that had nothing to do with the alleged case for which search was ordered.

The DVAC conducted searches inside the ED office in Madurai after arresting Ankit Tiwari, an Enforcement Officer, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a doctor to ensure that a case of disproportionate assets (DA) against him, filed and disposed of by DVAC, is not pursued.

The ED officer, in his letter to the DGP, said the DVAC team accessed sensitive case records, information, and internal documents of the agency related to other cases which have no link with the alleged search case, and “ransacked the entire office.”

“…the alleged search conducted by DVAC is not only illegal, but also mala fide. We would, therefore, request you to register our FIR for the following offences committed by the officials of DVAC and various unauthorized unknown persons,” the letter said, adding that DVAC officers stole “various sensitive case records of ED.”

The "raids" by the DVAC inside the ED office were unprecedented and could potentially open yet another front between the DMK dispensation and the BJP-led Union government. Already, three state ministers are under the scanner of the ED, whose summons to five district collectors in a sand mining case were stayed by the Madras High Court on November 28.