K.N. Nehru. File
| Photo Credit: M. Moorthy
A Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) team launched searches at 25 locations across Tamil Nadu including the residence of former DMK Minister K.N. Nehru at Thillai Nagar in Tiruchi on Thursday (October 29, 2026) in connection with the alleged multi-crore cash-for-jobs scam.
The operation at Tiruchi, carried out by a team headed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, began around 7 a.m.
The search at Mr. Nehru’s residence comes a couple of days after the Madras High Court cleared the decks for the DVAC to investigate the scam.
Mr. Nehru, who was the Municipal Administration Minister during the DMK regime (2021-26), was present at his residence when the search operation commenced, said police sources.
DVAC conducts searches at the residence of businessman J. Sekar alias Sekar Reddy at Gandhi Nagar, Katpadi in Vellore on October 29, 2026
| Photo Credit:
C. Venkatachalapathy
This is the second time since September that the DVAC has conducted searches at the residence of Mr. Nehru and other places linked to him in Chennai. The DVAC had registered a case against him and others in the basis of a complaint lodged by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). In a letter sent to the then Director General of Police and Head of the Police Force, the central agency had levelled serious allegations of corruption in the recruitment of 2,538 posts of Assistant Engineers, Junior Engineers and Town Planning Officers in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department.
Earlier in September, searches were conducted as part of the investigation into the alleged irregularities between 2021 and 2025, when Mr. Nehru held the portfolio.
Arrests and raids for Tiruchi East byelection: Stalin
DMK president M.K. Stalin on Thursday alleged Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, “having made Tamil Nadu unsafe for women, children and the elderly”, was resorting to breaking news, roadshows and other publicity tactics to divert public attention from the deteriorating law and order situation.
In a social media post, he accused Mr. Vijay of inducting “corrupt politicians” into the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) while targeting former DMK Ministers. “His vendetta politics will be defeated in the court of law and in the court of public opinion,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said the DMK and its cadres would not be intimidated by raids and arrests, which he claimed were staged to deliver punch dialogues with dramatic modulation for the Tiruchi East byelection.
“It is not just Tamil Nadu; the entire country is ridiculing the TVK government for the deterioration in law and order, rudderless administration and price rise. Do not think that DMK cadres can be silenced. They will expose the misdeeds of the TVK government,” he said.
Published – October 29, 2026 08:21 am IST
