AIADMK member and party whip, K A Sengottaiyan, today raised the issue in the state Assembly, alleging that S Vaikundarajan, a Kanyakumari-based industrialist, whom he described as one of the “major” stakeholders in Jaya TV, was being “intimidated and threatened with arrest under the Goondas Act.”

Later, at a press meet, Jayalalithaa alleged that Vaikundarajan was being harassed as he had refused to sell his shares in Jaya TV to Maran. She said the DMK, “both as a ruling party at the state and as a coalition partner at the Centre”, was trying “to subjugate” the Opposition.

Vaikundarajan is also involved in the mining and export of garnet in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts. On April 3, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Kanyakumari district authorities sealed V V Mineral’s operations near Muttom village.

On April 9, six vehicles of V V Mineral, carrying rare earth from the company’s factory near Muttom, were seized for operating despite the ban and criminal cases were registered against the company and its proprietor, besides others, under the Mines and Minerals Act. However, Vaikundarajan was not arrested.

Sengottaiyan added that three other mining companies also operated in the district, but they were not being “disturbed”. “Let the government institute a commission of enquiry into activities of all other companies mining in the district,” he added.

Replying to the charges, Arcot N Veerasamy, Minister for Electricity and Rural Industries, said there was no move to intimidate Vaikundarajan “who incidentally was only a minor shareholder” of Jaya TV, a public limited company run by Maries Dotcom Pvt. Ltd. It had an authorised share capital of Rs 20.25 crore with a paid up capital of Rs 19.52 crore. The shares held by Vaikundarajan were not through direct equity but through another company, Veerasamy added.

Veerasamy said that the issue should not be given “a political colour” just because Vaikundarajan happened to be a Jaya TV shareholder. Moreover, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi himself had informed that the government was willing to institute a commission of enquiry to probe activities of any company that violated rules.