CHENNAAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday carried out searches against AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu minister C Vijayabaskar apart from a Chennai-based real estate group as part of separate money laundering investigations, official sources said.

About 25 premises are being covered by the central agency as part of the two cases, the sources said.

Vijayabaskar, a former health minister, is an AIADMK strongman from Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu. The searches against him are based on a state vigilance (DVAC) investigation of 2022 linked to an alleged case of possession of disproportionate assets, they said.

He was earlier booked by the CBI in a ''gutkha scam''.

The premises liked to real estate group Gsquare and linked entities in and around Chennai city are also being searched as part of an investigation under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.