The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), on Tuesday, June 30, urged the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) to register a First Information Report (FIR) and launch a criminal investigation into the alleged participation of two private individuals in Cabinet meetings and other confidential government deliberations chaired by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
In a complaint submitted to the DGP, DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi alleged that John Arockiasamy and Vishnu Reddy, whom he described as close associates of the Chief Minister and residents of Andhra Pradesh, had been participating in Cabinet meetings, official review meetings and other high-level government consultations despite allegedly having no legal authority to do so.
According to The Hindu report, the complaint states, "The information disclosed herein prima facie reveals the unlawful communication, receipt, and access to confidential government information by unauthorised private individuals, together with possible abuse of public office, criminal conspiracy, and other offences requiring immediate criminal investigation."
Bharathi further contended that the Chief Minister was constitutionally bound by the Oath of Office and Secrecy under Article 164(3) read with the Third Schedule to the Constitution.
"The allegations regarding the participation of these two individuals raise serious issues concerning violations of constitutional obligations, statutory duties and criminal law," he further added.
The DMK leader also questioned whether Arockiasamy and Reddy were government servants or held any office recognised under law, an executive order or the Tamil Nadu Government Business Rules that authorised them to participate in confidential government proceedings or access classified information.
He said that if the two individuals possessed no such lawful authority, their presence in Cabinet meetings and confidential review meetings, where Cabinet papers, classified records, official files and sensitive policy matters were discussed, would prima facie disclose serious offences relating to the unauthorised communication, receipt, possession and use of official information.
Additional DGP Praveen Kumar received the complaint as DGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal was attending an IAS-IPS conference.
Bharathi also called for a detailed investigation into Secretariat visitor logs, CCTV footage, office allocation records, digital communications and file movement registers to determine the extent of the alleged breach. He urged the police to initiate criminal proceedings against all those found responsible and stressed that prompt action was necessary to uphold the rule of law.
