DMK Refers To The ED As The “Extortion Department” As A Political Clash Emerges Following The Arrest Of An Officer Of An Agency; BJP Retaliates

A political slugfest has ensued after Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) personnel arrested Enforcement Directorate official Ankit Tiwari on Saturday. Tiwari, an officer from the 2016 batch who is now stationed in Madurai, was reportedly caught “red-handed” on Friday taking a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a doctor in the state’s Dindigul district. Officials claim that the cop was taken into custody after an eight-kilometer pursuit on the Dindigul-Madurai route.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer’s detention coincides with a harsh editorial published on Friday by the DMK’s mouthpiece, Murasoli, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using the ED to damage the name of the DMK administration. Dayanidhi Maran, a DMK MP, questioned if the ED stood for “Extortion Department.”

An ED officer in Dindigul was detained by the Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption police in Tamil Nadu for allegedly requesting and taking a bribe of?20 lakh. After being routinely abused by the BJP government to blatantly intimidate and extort political opponents and critics across the nation, this undermines public trust in government institutions, leading one to wonder if ED stands for Extortion Department or Enforcement Directorate, the DMK MP wrote on X.

In Tamil Nadu, the Congress attempted to place the responsibility on the ED, arguing that if the official detained on suspicion of bribery was innocent, he should not have fled. “They proceeded to check at the enforcement department office based on the information and complaint that the Tamil Nadu police had received. Tamil Nadu Congress President KS Alagiri said, “If he was innocent, he could have faced them and why did he run away at the time…”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, has said that it is wrong to hold the whole department accountable for the misbehavior of a single person.

K Annamalai, the head of the Tamil Nadu State BJP, addressed the media in Thoothukudi and said, “One guy from the ED department was detained by DVAC yesterday. He appeared in court, after which he was placed into judicial custody. Neither this nor the previous time will be the first or the last. Numerous people have already been apprehended by specialist law enforcement organizations like as the CBI and ED in areas like Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Delhi. A similar incidence occurred recently in Rajasthan.We cannot hold the ED accountable for the error of a single person.”

In connection with the matter, searches were carried out by DVAC officers at Ankit Tiwari’s apartment and the Madurai ED sub-zonal office. Additionally, DVAC officers made inquiries outside the central government office, which was guarded by CRPF forces.

As DVAC searched the Madurai ED office today, security staff closed the building from the inside.

The DIPR Secretariat made a statement stating that on October 29, Chennai Tiwari had spoken with a government doctor in Dindigul and cited a complaint that had been filed in the Dindigul Vigilance and Anti Corruption Department against him, “which was already disposed off.””Further, Tiwari informed the employee that instructions had been received from the Prime Minister’s Office to conduct an enquiry and asked the government doctor to appear before the ED office at Madurai on October 30,” the complaint said.

The DVAC said that when the doctor traveled to Madurai, Tiwari jumped into his vehicle and demanded that he pay Rs 3 crore in order to stop the matter from going to court.

“Later, he said he had spoken to his superiors and as per their directions, he agreed to collect Rs 51 lakh as bribe,” said the DVAC.

Additionally, the DVAC said that the doctor had handed Tiwari Rs 20 lakh as the first installment of a bribe on November 1.

Subsequently, Tiwari threatened the worker many times with WhatsApp calls and texts stating that he needed to pay the whole Rs 51 lakh or suffer grave repercussions, according to the DVAC news statement.

The government physician filed a complaint with the Dindigul district Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Unit on November 30.

Ankit Tiwari was apprehended by DVAC detectives after accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from the complainant. He was then taken into custody in accordance with the Prevention of Corruption Act around 10.30 a.m. The announcement also said that the investigators had obtained other papers that implicated him in wrongdoing.

“An investigation is being done to elucidate whether he blackmailed or threatened any other officials adopting this modus operandi and collected money in the name of the Enforcement Directorate,” stated the DVAC.

We will also investigate if any other ED officers were involved in the conspiracy. According to the announcement, more searches would be carried out at locations connected to Ankit Tiwari, as reported by news agency ANI.