The Madras High Court on October 7, 2026 declined to grant interim protection to former DMK minister E. V. Velu and his son E. V. Kumaran in a corruption case over alleged excavation of a lake bed. Justice V.
Lakshminarayanan refused an ex-parte order restraining police from taking coercive action against the two. The FIR was registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on September 24, following a complaint filed on August 14 by the anti-graft group Arappor Iyakkam. It alleges that material was dug out of the Malappambadi lake in Tiruvannamalai district between November and early December 2025 and carted to land owned by Kumaran. That land hosted a DMK youth wing north zone conference on December 14, 2025. Velu, who was then the highways and public works minister, is accused of supervising the arrangements and misusing his office. The FIR says no permission was obtained from the revenue, corporation or geology and mining departments, and the role of officials from those departments is also being probed.
Charges include several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Velu’s counsel argued the case was baseless and that a pending FIR would hamper his work as an MLA. The judge said the court could not bar police action and told the pair to approach the proper court for anticipatory bail. The State and Arappor Iyakkam were asked to respond, and the plea to quash the FIR was posted to November 6. The case adds to the pressure on senior DMK figures under the new TVK government.