The Enforcement Directorate has accused Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration and Water Supply Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader KN Nehru of collecting bribes in exchange for the transfer and posting of government officers and engineers, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
In a communication dated January 14 to the state director general of police, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption and the chief secretary, the agency cited digital evidence and financial trails linking Rs 365.8 crore in alleged laundered funds to Nehru, his family and close associates.
Claiming to have uncovered “many instances of bribes being collected for the transfer and posting” in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, the ED urged the state authorities to register a first information report against Nehru, the newspaper reported.
The agency added that the communication detailed the “evidence” related to these alleged transfers involving Nehru and his associates, The Indian Express reported.
This evidence came to the fore after searches were conducted in April 2025 at premises linked to Nehru’s relatives and close associates in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore, the ED said.
While these searches were conducted in connection with an alleged money laundering investigation linked to a bank fraud case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the ED claimed that digital material seized during the raids indicated an entirely different set of offences.
According to the communication, the material included photographs, WhatsApp messages and documents recovered from digital devices seized during the searches.
It alleged that bribes ranging from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 1 crore were collected by Nehru’s close associates, the newspaper reported.
The agency also claimed that “about 340 officers/engineers…transfer/posting orders were found in the phone of the close associates of Nehru”.
The agency said that this amounted to “direct evidence” of bribes collected through such transfers and postings, adding that the allegations were part of a larger transfer and posting scam in state government departments, The Indian Express reported.
Responding to the allegations, the DMK leader told The Indian Express that he did not want to comment as he did not yet have clarity on the matter. He added that all these matters were under inquiry.
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