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Chennai: K Venkatesan, a former red sanders smuggler, was appointed as a state secretary under the BJP OBC Morcha state secretary for Thiruvallur East on June 13. The saffron party removed him from the post after the controversy took place within the party.
His name was missing from the Tamil Nadu BJP’s newly revised list.
K Venkatesan (54) has a criminal background, having been involved in several criminal activities. The M4 Red Hills police station has seven cases pending against Venkatesan, and this includes an attempt to murder. The man was arrested under the Goondas Act in 2011. Andhra Police also arrested him in 2015 on charges of smuggling red sandalwood to foreign countries.
Currently, he has been engaged with the BJP; earlier, he was attached to the AIADMK. He was a former member of the youth wing of the AIADMK and even became a deputy secretary. The party discarded him from the AIADMK after he was arrested in the red smuggling case.
The BJP became alert after providing him with the post of a state secretary under the BJP OBC Morcha. He was removed from the post following the controversy that had started in the party unit regarding Venkatesan’s appointment.
