CBI raids were conducted at AIADMK MP Anwar Raajha’s Ramanathapuram residence, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board premises in Chennai and the MSS Waqf board-run college in Madurai on Friday.
The raids were conducted in relation to a job recruitment scam allegedly executed by Anwar, who is the AIADMK MP from Ramanathapuram and Tamil Nadu Waqf Board Chairman. Anwar and his secretaries have been questioned by the CBI for the last two days.
According to a news report, a five-member CBI team carried out the raids at all three places following alleged irregularities in the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff at a Waqf board-run college in Madurai.
An FIR was filed by the CBI on March 7, based on a directive received from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. A writ petition filed by a person named Sardar Basha had alleged that Jamal Mohideen, the then secretary and correspondent of the MSS Waqf board college in Madurai had criminally conspired with Anwar to appoint non-eligible staff who were without National Eligibility Test or State Level Eligibility Test clearance at the college.
According to a report in The Times of India, the petitioner had alleged that between October 2017 and November 2018, they had demanded and accepted illegal payments amounting to Rs 35 lakhs from non-Muslim and Rs 30 lakhs from Muslim candidates. During this period, 30 assistant professors were appointed in the college.
The report also states that the amount was allegedly deposited by Jamal in a separate bank account in Kamarajar Salai branch of the City Union Bank in Madurai.
MP Anwar was one among the 37 MPs to vote against the Triple Talaq bill in the Parliament. Anwar had called it a “barbaric bill”, following which party MPs had staged a walkout from the House when voting took place.