Former DMK Minister challenges Nirmalkumar to substantiate bribery allegations against him

Former Minister for Registration P. Moorthy of the DMK on Sunday challenged Law Minister R. Nirmalkumar to furnish evidence to substantiate his allegations that bribes were collected in the Registration Department during the previous DMK regime.

“The Minister should provide details of the Sub-Registrar offices, survey numbers, and registration documents for which commission was allegedly collected on my behalf,” Mr. Moorthy told reporters in Madurai.

He was responding to repeated allegations by Mr. Nirmalkumar that, while serving as Registration Minister, Mr. Moorthy had stationed his associates at every registration office across the State to collect a 20% commission on every property registration during the DMK regime.

“I held meetings only with the senior-most officials of the Registration Department as Minister and never spoke to any of the 589 Sub-Registrars in the State. The Government can very well conduct an inquiry with the officials,” Mr. Moorthy said.

He claimed that revenue generated by the Registration Department had increased from ₹10,000 crore in 2021 to ₹25,000 crore in 2026 under the DMK regime.

Referring to the recent alleged illegal transfer of a large parcel of land belonging to Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple in Palani to private individuals, Mr. Moorthy questioned how the transaction had been registered when the Registration Department had special markings for HR and CE temple lands that prohibited such transactions.

Mr. Moorthy said Mr. Nirmalkumar, who also holds the Electricity portfolio, should focus on ensuring uninterrupted power supply in the coming days rather than making what he described as baseless allegations against him.

DVAC seizures

Referring to Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay repeatedly claiming there was no bribery in government offices after the TVK assumed power, Mr. Moorthy said surprise inspections by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had led to the seizure of bribe money amounting to several lakhs of rupees from various government offices, contradicting the government’s claim.

He also referred to corruption allegations raised by a TVK woman functionary over the appointment of a Government Pleader.

“After promising to increase the free power supply from 100 units to 200 units, the TVK government has only increased power tariffs,” he said.