ED attaches property of retired IPS officer Jaffar Sait, Karunanidhi’s former PA

The Directorate of Enforcements (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 14.23 crore belonging to Parvin Jaffar, the wife of retired IPS officer Jaffar Sait and R Durgashankar, son of K Rajamanickam, former IPS officer and secretary to late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in relation to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board scam. In a statement issued, the agency said that it had initiated a money laundering investigation based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) against seven people.

The ED says that an investigation revealed that there was a wrongful allotment of Government Discretionary Quota (GDQ) plots done by I Periyasamy, the then Minister for Housing and Urban Development. A plot was allotted to Jaffar Sait (in his wife’s name) despite him not being eligible for such an allotment. Durgashankar was given a plot adjacent to Jaffer Sait’s plot and these were in violation of the GDQ norms.

The ED also discovered that Parvin Jaffar and Durgashankar entered into an agreement with T Udayakumar, the proprietor of Landmark Construction in Chennai for the joint development of the land that was allotted to them. The statement mentioned that Udayakumar funded this project despite knowing that the both of them were not owners of the land. The statement said, “The said monetary consideration received from Udayakumar was used by Parvin Jaffar and R Durgashankar to pay the cost of illegally allotted plots by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board.”

ED says Parvin and Durgashankar generated a large income by building multi-floor apartments on the plots and selling them to the public for a large sum. An income of Rs 14.86 crore was generated from the sale of the flats and movable and the immovable properties worth Rs 14.23 crore were provisionally attached, the ED said. The statement also mentioned that further investigation is underway.

Apart from the aforementioned people, those named in the FIR were K Murugaiya, executive engineer of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, K Rajamanickam, secretary to Karunanidhi and Periyasamy, former Minister for Housing.