Arun Nehru Meets Finance Minister Amid ₹1,020 Crore ED Corruption Probe Against Father

DMK Lok Sabha MP and son of Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru, Arun Nehru, met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Tuesday — barely 72 hours after the Enforcement Directorate dispatched a strongly worded letter to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police demanding immediate registration of an FIR in an alleged ₹1,020 crore corruption case directly linked to his father’s department.

The ED’s letter, marked to multiple senior state officials, alleges a deeply entrenched “percentage commission” racket wherein 7.5 to 10 per cent of every contract value awarded under the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department was systematically routed as illegal gratification to associates of a powerful DMK minister, purportedly for “party funds.” Describing the disclosures as only the “tip of the iceberg,” the agency warned that failure to lodge an FIR without delay would tantamount to knowingly shielding scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

During the 30-minute meeting at North Block, Arun Nehru handed over two detailed memoranda that steered clear of the ongoing scandal. The first sought sweeping amendments to the Consumer Protection Act and Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act to impose stricter accountability on credit rating agencies and prevent arbitrary downgrading of borrower scores. The second memorandum demanded accelerated disbursement of compensation to over 50,000 families, predominantly women self-help groups from Duraiyur assembly segment in Tiruchirappalli, who lost life savings exceeding ₹500 crore in the decade-old PACL Limited ponzi scheme.

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Senior DMK leader and Minister K.N. Nehru has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, terming the ED action a “politically motivated witch-hunt” orchestrated to defame the popular welfare schemes of the DMK government ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. Addressing reporters in Chennai, he declared, “I have full faith in the law and the courts. These agencies have now openly joined hands with opposition parties that cannot digest the progress Tamil Nadu is making under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.”

The sudden high-profile visit to the Finance Minister by a first-time MP, at a time when central agencies are tightening the screws on his father’s ministry, has fuelled intense speculation across party lines in both Chennai and Delhi, with AIADMK and BJP leaders openly questioning whether the memoranda on credit rating reforms and an old chit-fund scam were merely a pretext for discussions behind closed doors.

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