the story So Far: Madras High Court on Friday (February 20, 2026) directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). To file a First Information Report (FIR) about cash for job scam In the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS).
The FIR was ordered to be registered on the basis of a 232-page dossier which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) shared with the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) on October 27, 2025 and presented before the Madras High Court in a sealed cover on February 5, 2026. The Hindu The ED has gone through the 232-page dossier as well as other 258-page dossiers to find out what exactly has been revealed.
How did ED collect material related to alleged cash-for-jobs and tender scams?
ED had searched 14 premises in Chennai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore on April 7, 2025 in connection with the bank fraud case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against True Value Homes. It is a real estate firm owned by N. Nehru, brother of Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru. Ravichandran runs it as its managing director.
Then, the ED had filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002 to investigate the possibility of an offense being committed using the money involved in the bank fraud case. The searches led to the seizure of several documents, digital devices and evidence from Mr. Ravichandran, his other brother KN Manivannan, TVH general manager D. Ramesh, TVH director T. Selvamani and former TVH director Kavi Prasad.
However, the Madras High Court quashed the charge sheet filed by the CBI on July 7, 2025 and hence the ED’s ECIR was also closed as there was no premeditated offense (a primary offense which led to illegal income generation). The ED returned all the seized materials but retained the WhatsApp chats and photographs downloaded from the iPhones of the five persons and shared the information obtained from those materials with the Tamil Nadu DGP under Section 66(2) of the PMLA.
The information was classified under various headings and several dossiers were sent to the DGP. The 232-page dossier sent on October 27, 2025, was limited to information related to the cash-for-jobs scam. The 258-page dossier sent on December 3, 2025, contained information specifically related to corruption in the allocation of government tenders and contracts in the MAWS department.
Did ED also share information with the Union Home Ministry?
The 258-page dossier said that several IAS and IPS officers were also in touch with Mr Kavi Prasad. It reads: “Analysis of Kavi Prasad’s phone reveals that various IAS/IPS officers were in touch with him for various purposes, which violates various conduct rules and makes them unbecoming of a government servant. Chat conversations and photographs of the chats were recovered by the ED. Names of such officers are not being discussed here as a separate report will be prepared on the said issue, for the information of their cadre controlling authorities, i.e. DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) and Govt. To draw the attention of the Home Ministry of India, this report is only on the issue of corruption in government contracts.
What did ED recover from the mobile phone?
The ED had recovered hundreds of WhatsApp chats and photos stored in the mobile phone, suspecting several criminal activities. While it had primarily relied on WhatsApp chats between Mr. Ramesh and others to reach the conclusion that there was a scam in filling 2,538 vacancies in the MAWS department, the WhatsApp chats between Mr. Kavi Prasad and others were the primary focus when it came to suspicion of manipulation in government tenders.
The ED said the MAWS department had issued a recruitment notification on February 2, 2024, for direct recruitment to various posts, such as Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers in the pay scale of ₹37,700 – ₹1,38,500 and Sanitary Inspectors in the pay scale of ₹35,400 – ₹1,30,400. The selection was to be done through written examination followed by interview and the responsibility of selection of meritorious candidates was entrusted to Anna University in Chennai. The selection process ended on February 17, 2025, and the Chief Minister handed over appointment letters to the selected candidates on August 6, 2025.
Forensic backup of Mr. Ramesh’s iPhone 15 Pro revealed that application forms, hall tickets and interview call letters of several candidates were shared with him by different persons. Mr. Ramesh replied to some of those messages saying ‘Done.’ In a chat on February 1, 2025, a person named NKL Durai had shared a photo of a Microsoft Excel worksheet containing the names of four candidates, adding that they were referred by DMK’s Namakkal MLA P. Ramalingam. The ED also found a photograph of another Microsoft Excel worksheet in the image gallery of Mr. Ramesh’s phone and it contained the names of four female and three male candidates and said that they had been recommended. Ramanathapuram MLA Katharbacha Muthuramalingam.
“The above chats reveal that the results of MAWS department jobs were being manipulated by Mr. D. Ramesh as per the wishes of politicians in return for bribes,” the ED said. The ED also relied on similar WhatsApp chats and photographs stored in the mobile phones of four other people. Although most of the candidates mentioned in those chats got appointments, some of them were not selected and the ED said they may not have paid bribes amounting to ₹25 lakh to ₹35 lakh.
‘Method of turning black money into white’
Based on photographs of ₹10 currency notes and their serial numbers, which have been shared, the ED concluded that the bribe amount was collected through hawala transactions. It said, a person whose phone number was saved as Veeramani had sent a photo of a bag filled with currency notes worth about ₹1 crore to Mr. Ramesh and it matched the amount collected for the selection of three candidates at the rate of ₹35 lakh each.
The ED also said that certain chats related to RTGS transfers made to Shree Basaveshwara Sugars Limited proved that hawala money was brought back into the banking system. “RTGS is made to a sugar company named Shree Basaveshwara Sugars Limited as it is an entity which does cash transactions related to agriculture and farmers. Laundering is very easy in the said sector,” the ED claimed.
ED Additional Director Abhyudaya A. The 232-page dossier sent by Anand to the DGP also reads: “Relatives and close associates of Shri KN Nehru were involved in manipulation of the MAWS examination process. The said persons had access to confidential examination information. The said persons collected bribes to select candidates for jobs in the MAWS department… All the above activities were with the active knowledge of Shri KN Nehru, Minister of the MAWS Department.”
Was there any evidence of connection with the Chief Minister?
The ED, relying mainly on WhatsApp chats and photographs from Mr Kavi Prasad’s phone, had suspected that he was rigging government tenders and collecting 7.5% to 10% of the contract amount from successful tenderers for ‘party funds’. “This chat shows that MLAs also have to pay party funds in the form of bribes. If they do not pay bribes (party funds), they cannot get any government contract,” the ED said, referring to the photo of the calculation sheet sent to them by a person saved in the name of MLA Nandakumar on the phone.
Further, referring to similar WhatsApp chats, the ED gives a blanket statement that “The bribes in the form of party funds are collected for the benefit of the party in power and which is running the Government of Tamil Nadu. The party in power and which is running the Government in Tamil Nadu is the DMK. The DMK political party is led by Shri MK Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Since the DMK party is led by Shri MK Stalin, he is the present Chief Minister and his son is the present Deputy Chief Minister. The beneficiary party’s share of the fund (which is 7.5% to 10% of the contract value of government contracts) is Mr. MK Stalin, Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu and his son Mr. Udhayanidhi, Deputy Chief Minister.
In the same dossier, the ED had also said: “Kavi Prasad is a technically smart person and he does not share much details in the chats. He believes in meeting people personally and discussing them directly to ensure that the evidence of bribery is kept secret. He generally keeps his phone clean about evidence related to bribery. However, still some evidence of tender manipulation, bribe recovery can be found.”
published – February 23, 2026 06:16 PM IST
