TN govt, Tasmac move HC against ED probe

The Tamil Nadu government and Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) have jointly filed petitions before the Madras High Court seeking to restrain the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from investigating an alleged ₹1,000 crore liquor scam.

 The ED had conducted searches from March 6-8 at Tasmac’s headquarters in Chennai. Its investigation includes allegations of manipulated tenders, inflated expenses, and unaccounted cash transactions involving Tasmac and associated distilleries.

However, Tasmac’s petitions argue that the ED's actions lack evidence linking the corporation to "proceeds of crime" as defined by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and seek to prevent further ED actions without state government consent.

A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and N. Senthilkumar on Wednesday accepted the state’s request for an early hearing of the matter.