The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday carried out searches at multiple premises linked to Tamil Nadu minister I. Periyasamy and his MLA son I. P. Senthilkumar as part of a money laundering probe.

According to officials, the searches took place in Chennai and Dindigul under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The premises of Senthilkumar, the son of the 72-year-old minister for rural development, panchayats and panchayat unions, were among those covered. Periyasamy represents the Athoor assembly constituency in Dindigul district.

The probe stems from an April order of the Madras high court directing a special court in Dindigul to frame charges against Periyasamy and his family members in connection with a Rs 2.1 crore disproportionate assets case.

The high court also instructed the special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis and complete it within six months.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had earlier filed criminal revision petitions challenging a special court’s decision to discharge Periyasamy and his family members.

The prosecution’s case was that Periyasamy amassed assets worth Rs 2.1 crore in his name and in the names of his wife, P. Suseela, and sons P. Senthilkumar and P. Prabhu, disproportionate to his known sources of income during his tenure as minister between 2006 and 2010.

Reacting to Saturday’s searches, DMK MP and senior leader Kanimozhi alleged that central agencies were being misused.

“On one hand the BJP is using the EC to carry out attacks against democracy using SIR (Special Intensive Revision in Bihar) in a desperate bid to win elections. At the same time, agencies like IT, ED and CBI which they regularly use as a weapon against Opposition, are being used against senior minsters of DMK as well. These agencies have been weaponised and used as instruments against opposition. One such raid is happening today. The DMK will face this,” she told reporters.

“The minister has crossed so many challenges and stood firm with DMK. No amount of intimidation will threaten our workers and leaders,” she added.

Periyasamy is not the first DMK leader to come under the ED’s scanner. Senior party leaders and former ministers K Ponmudy and V Senthil Balaji are already facing inquiries.

Balaji is being investigated in connection with an alleged cash-for-jobs scam during his stint as transport minister in an earlier AIADMK regime, while Ponmudy has appeared before the agency in a money laundering case related to alleged illegal sand mining.