1. I-T Dept. searches at premises linked to Minister E.V. Velu
Income Tax officials carried out searches at 16 premises linked to Minister for Public Works Department, Highways and Minor Ports E.V. Velu, in Tiruvannamalai and at least four places in Karur.
At Tiruvannamalai, the searches began around 6.30 a.m. Most of the searches in the temple town were restricted to the house of Mr. Velu in Kilnachipattu village, and around 8 km from Tiruvannamalai town, where educational institutions including medical and engineering colleges linked to his family are located.
At Karur, the residence of the Minister’s personal assistant Suresh was among those searched.
2. Coimbatore car blast | NIA makes the 14th arrest
A year after the car blast in front of Sangameswarar temple at Kottaimedu in Coimbatore, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested the 14th man for his alleged involvement in the attack by men inspired by the Islamic State (IS) ideology.
Thaha Naseer (27), a resident of Thirumalai Nagar in Coimbtore was held by NIA sleuths from Coimbatore yesterday. The agency later took him to Chennai.
According to official sources, Naseer, who worked as a painter at the service centre of a car franchise in Coimbatore, had met Jamesha Mubeen (29), the mastermind of the car bomb explosion, a few days before the attack.
3. Anti-NEET signature campaign | Udhayanidhi meets Congress leaders seeking support
Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin, visited Tamil Nadu Congress Committee headquarters at Chennai, Sathyamurthy Bhavan, and met Tamil Nadu Congress president K.S. Alagiri, Congress legislative party leader K. Selvaperunthagai, other leaders to seek their support for the signature campaign demanding NEET exemption for Tamil Nadu.
Commenting in the I-T searches conducted at the properties linked to Minister E.V. Velu, Mr. Udhayanidhi said, “DMK and Congress has many wings – youth wing, doctors’ wing. Similarly, BJP has many wings, which includes the ED and IT. They are doing their jobs. In the last two or three months, they seem to have working overtime.”
