Madras High Court Rejects Petition from DMK MP Kathir Anand's Kingston Engineering College in ED Raid Case

Chennai, Jan 9 (NationPress) The Madras High Court has rejected a writ petition submitted by Kingston Engineering College, which is owned by DMK leader and Member of Parliament Kathir Anand. The petition challenged the sealing of the college's server room by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This action occurred on January 4 as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation involving the MP. Kathir Anand is the son of S. Duraimurugan, the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Development Minister and a key figure in the Stalin cabinet.

A Division Bench consisting of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman dismissed the case after ED Special Public Prosecutor N. Ramesh informed the court that the server room had been de-sealed on January 7. The prosecutor noted that only two of the nine servers had been seized during the ED's investigation.

The prosecutor contended that the server room was sealed due to a lack of cooperation from the college management, which allegedly obstructed access to the necessary data.

According to Ramesh, ED officials faced over six hours of delays on January 4 while trying to gain entry to the server room, despite multiple requests made to Kathir Anand and other college personnel.

He stated that a carpenter was eventually needed to forcibly open the locks of both the server room and the chairman's office. During the operation, the ED reportedly confiscated Rs 2.74 crore in cash from the college's premises.

However, the college management denied these claims in their affidavit, asserting that the cash was intended for employee salaries and Pongal bonuses, claiming it was sourced from student fees. They also alleged that the ED took documents related to the college, bank transactions, and a hard disk.

The ED’s investigations are part of a broader probe into a 2019 Income Tax case against Kathir Anand, which includes allegations of cash-for-votes during the Lok Sabha elections. In that instance, over Rs 10 crore in cash was seized from locations connected to Anand's associate in Vellore, leading to the cancellation of the election in that constituency.

The college management refuted the ED's claims of non-cooperation and asked the court to instruct the agency to provide a copy of the data obtained from the seized servers. However, the judges declined to issue such an order, determining it was outside the scope of the writ petition. The Bench clarified that the college could explore other legal avenues for relief.

In an affidavit, Kingston Engineering College principal U.V. Arivazhagu stated that ED officials executed a search and seizure operation on the campus from January 3 to January 5 under an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) filed against Kathir Anand under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002.

The principal emphasized that the college staff had fully cooperated with the ED during the operation. He noted that following the search, the ED officials shut down the servers and sealed the server room, which interrupted access to computer labs and CCTV systems.

“The safety and security of students, especially women, are at risk due to this action,” the principal stated, requesting the court to order the ED to de-seal the server room. The court ultimately dismissed the petition, reiterating that the college could seek legal remedies through other appropriate channels.