Chennai, Jan 3: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raids at five locations linked to DMK leader and Member of Parliament Kathir Anand.

The raids, which commenced in the morning, are still ongoing. The ED officials have yet to release any statements to the media.

Kathir Anand is the son of S. Duraimurugan, a senior DMK leader and the second-in-command in the Stalin cabinet.

He represents the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency in Parliament.

There have been allegations that the ED is targeting the DMK by conducting such raids.

Previously, the ED carried out searches at the premises of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Forest Minister K. Ponmudy and his son, Gautham Sigamani, in a money laundering case.

The DMK has referred to these operations as acts of “political vendetta”.

In 2019, then-President Ram Nath Kovind, acting on a recommendation from the Election Commission of India (ECI), rescinded the Lok Sabha election in Vellore due to the seizure of unaccounted cash from Kathir Anand and related locations.

During the 2019 polls, the ECI officials confiscated a total of Rs 11 crore from Anand’s residence and other properties. Following this, the ECI issued a statement then: “Accepting the recommendation of the Election Commission of India dated April 14, 2019, the Honourable President is pleased to rescind the election to the Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu.”

The election, initially scheduled for April 18, 2019, was cancelled on April 16, 2019, due to the cash recovery.

A re-election was held on August 5, 2019, where Kathir Anand, representing the DMK, won by a narrow margin of 8,141 votes, defeating A.C. Shanmugham of the AIADMK.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kathir Anand secured a more decisive victory, defeating A.C. Shanmugham, who had since joined the BJP, by a significant margin of 2,15,702 votes.

Hyderabad, Jan 2: Police have picked up seven suspects for questioning after protests by female students of a private engineering college over alleged video recording in hostel bathrooms. The mobile phones of the hostel workers were seized and were being scanned on Thursday by the police to ascertain if they recorded the videos.

CMR Engineering College at Medchal on the outskirts of Hyderabad was rocked by protests late on Wednesday night.

Alleging privacy breach, the students staged a protest and demanded action against the accused.

They alleged that some hostel workers secretly recorded videos of female students in bathrooms.

Leaders of student unions including ABVP also joined the students in the protest which continued past midnight.

ABVP leaders demanded action against the management of the college. They alleged that female students were being blackmailed.

The protest began after some female students noticed hand imprints on the glass of ventilators in bathrooms.

The students also complained of inadequate security at the hostel and said though the issue was brought to the notice of the management, no action was taken.

They also alleged that when the warden was informed about the video recording, he made some objectionable remarks.

The student leaders warned that if videos recorded in bathrooms surfaced on social media, former minister and BRS MLA Malla Reddy, who owns the college, will have to take responsibility.

The protestors smashed the windows of the security room.

Police rushed to the college and tried to pacify the protestors with an assurance to take action.

The police officials said they would register a case based on the complaints and initiate a thorough investigation into the incident.

With no formal complaint being filed, police have not registered an First Information Report (FIR). However, they detained seven hostel workers for questioning.

The mobile phones of the workers were seized and were being scanned by the police to ascertain if they recorded the videos.

Mumbai, Jan 2: The NCP-SP and Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Beed police asking whether five new beds have been ordered for the comfort of Walmik Karad, a close associate of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde from Beed, who was wanted in an extortion case linked to the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, who surrendered before the CID in Pune on Tuesday.

An extortion case has been registered against Karad who has been remanded in police custody for 14 days by Kej court in Beed district.

The police administration subsequently clarified that they were cots for the staff.

NCP-SP legislator Rohit Pawar in his post on X said, “There are reports of five new beds being ordered at the police station. Although the administration has clarified that new cots have been ordered for the staff, there are many questions like, how come the beds were suddenly ordered today? If new beds have been ordered for the staff, the same level of promptness should be shown for the staff in all police stations across the state.

“In addition, consideration should be given to whether mattresses, pillows, fans, and ACs can also be installed.”

On the other hand, senior Congress legislator Vijay Wadettiwar took a dig at the MahaYuti government asking whether the five cots ordered for the Beed police station were for Walmik Karad being covered under the ‘Ladli Aaropi Yojana (beloved accused scheme)’.

“There are not so many coincidences in the movies also as are witnessed in the police administration’s move to order five beds when Walmik Karad has been sentenced to 14 days’ police custody.

“This is the beginning of pampering the accused. Gradually he will get everything like TV, AC, and food from a five-star hotel,” remarked Wadettiwar.

“Does this government want to take fair action against Walmik Karad? If it wants to, then the investigation should be conducted outside Beed district. Will it investigate the person who has kept the police in its grip till now or will it be a service? The government should either stop pretending to take action against Karad and if it wants to take action, it should be done seriously,” said Wadettiwar.

“Whether it is the murder of Santosh Deshmukh or a case under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), no case has been registered in Karad yet, which raises questions about this investigation,” he commented.

The state government on Wednesday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IPS officer Basavaraj Teli to investigate the brutal killing of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from Beed district which took place in December last year.

Teli is the head of the Economic Offences Wing of the CID. All the officers in the SIT are from Beed district.

The current investigating officer DYSP Anil Gujar will also be in the probe team.

Apart from Gujar, the other members of the SIT include Vijay Singh Shivlal Jonwal, assistant police inspector, Local Crime Branch, Beed, Mahesh Vighne, sub inspector, Local Crime Branch, Beed, Anand Shankar Shinde, sub inspector Kej, Tulshiram Jagtap, assistant sub inspector, Manoj Rajendra Wagh, police constable, Chandrakant S Kalkute, police naik, Balasaheb Devidas Akhabare, police naik and Santosh Bhagwanrao Gitte, police constable.

The Santosh Deshmukh murder case is currently being investigated by the CID and so far more than 150 people have been questioned in this case.

The investigation is being conducted in connection with the links between the extortion of Rs 2 crore and the CID team is checking all the call records, CDRs on a war footing.