Chennai:
Another former DMK Minister, Vellakovil Swaminathan, has been arrested in Tamil Nadu this morning. Mr Swaminathan, who was the Highways Minister till last April in the government of M Karunanidhi, has been accused of land grabbing, criminal intimidation and holding kangaroo courts.
Mr Swaminathan is the fourth former DMK minister to be arrested on land grab charges. Three others - Veerapandi Arumugham, K Ponmudi and K N Nehru - are out on bail. One former minister, KP Samy, is in jail on a murder charge, but he too has recently been granted bail by the Supreme Court.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa says the arrests are based on genuine complaints. Mr Karunanidhi's DMK says it is political vendetta.
A case has also been registered against the DMK chief's younger son MK Stalin, who was the Deputy CM in the Karunanidhi regime that ruled Tamil Nadu for five years before Ms Jayalalithaa's AIADMK wrested power in the 2011 Assembly elections. Mr Stalin has been accused of coercing a man to sell his property in a prime Chennai locality to a member of his family at a reduced price.
Mr Stalin's son Udhayanidhi and four others have also been named in the FIR, registered on a complaint by a man who alleges that one of Mr Stalin's aides had forced him to sell his property at Chittaranjan Das Road in the Teynampet area, after getting his tenants to vacate the premises under threat, the police have said.
Mr Stalin has denied this, saying it is a false case and he will fight it legally. There have been no arrests yet in the case. Mr Stalin's son has obtained anticipatory bail.