ED notice to poor TN farmers: IRS officer writes to Prez for dismissal of FM Sitharaman

B Bala Murugan, Deputy Commissioner of GST&CE Chennai, in his letter, highlighted the case of two poor Dalit farmers in Tamil Nadu's Salem district receiving summons from the Enforcement Directorate following a legal dispute with a BJP leader. The officer sought the dismissal of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accusing her of being "directly responsible for this state of affair".

Chennai (Tamil Nadu):An IRS officer has written to President Droupadi Murmu demanding dismissal of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for converting the Enforcement Directorate into an "extended arm of BJP" after the agency issued summons to two poor farmers in Tamil Nadu.

B Bala Murugan, Deputy Commissioner of GST&CE Chennai, in his letter to the President on Tuesday highlighted the case of two poor Dalit farmers receiving summons from the Enforcement Directorate following a legal dispute with a BJP leader.

"Two elderly illiterate and poor Dalit farmers from Tamil Nadu, Kannaiyan aged 72 and Krishnan aged 67, who own 6.5 acres of agricultural land in Attur, Tamil Nadu, currently engaged in dispute with Gunasekhar, the BJP's Salem east district secretary, have received summons from the Enforcement Directorate. The ED's involvement in a land dispute case where the farmers accuse a local BJP leader of attempting an illegal land grab has raised eyebrows. The summons coupled with the mention of the farmers' caste as 'Hindu Pallars' on the envelope, has led to further outrage," Murugan writes in the letter, a copy of which was accessed by ETV Bharat.

Kannaiyan and Krishnan are brothers from Ramanayaganpalayam village in Attur area of Salem district of Tamil Nadu. The officer said that owing to land issues, the farmers had been unable to pursue agricultural activities for the last four years and had only Rs 450 in their bank account. "They depend on the Old Age pension of Rs 1,000 and government-provided free ration for their livelihood," his letter reads.

"The summons issued to the farmers by Ritesh Kumar, Assistant Director of ED is dated June 26, 2023. According to the summons, investigating officer (IO) Ritesh Kumar is investigating under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, and asked Kannaiyan and Krishnan to appear before the agency on July 5, 2023," the letter adds.

The two farmer brothers, according to the officer, have accused BJP leader Gunasekhar of attempting to unlawfully acquire their land. "A criminal case was initiated against Gunasekhar in 2020 following Krishnan's complaint, leading to his arrest and subsequent judicial custody...a civil case addressing the ongoing land dispute between Krishnan and Gunasekhar is currently awaiting resolution in the Attur court," the officer writes in the letter.

The farmers have alleged that the enforcement officials threatened them when they appeared for questioning at the agency's office in Shastri Bhavan, Chennai. "The above incident shows how the ED has become an extended arm of the BJP... Nirmala Sitharaman after taking over the charge of Finance Minister has successfully converted the Enforcement Directorate into BJP police Enforcement Directorate," the officer writes.

"My family is basically agriculturist. Even though my father was a medical doctor, we do agriculture which we consider more prestigious than any other job. I was doing agriculture, cultivating on our ancestral land before joining the government service. I will do agriculture after my retirement," he says in the letter.

The officer further adds that in 30 years of his service, he has never seen any politician pressuring him for any favour. "Generally they will bring influence through Delhi. Now the situation has changed as seen from the above incident. Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman is directly responsible for this state of affairs. Mrs Sitharaman has become unfit to be the Finance Minister of India," he writes.

"I request the Honourable President of India to dismiss the Finance Minister immediately...to render justice to the poor Dalit farmers...and save the Enforcement Directorate," he writes.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, the officer Bala Murugan said, "In the past, honest officers were appointed in the ED. Also, we did not have any interference from political leaders. Currently, poor Dalit farmers Kannaiyan and Krishnan own 6.5 acres of land, but they have not been able to carry out agricultural work on that land for the past 4 years. They have been blaming BJP executive Gunasekaran for this. The manner in which the ED issued the summons to this land was not correct. Such incidents are happening only after Nirmala Sitharaman became the finance minister."

Read More