Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Tuesday said that an inquiry has been ordered into reports that an Election Commission flying squad in Chennai had thwarted the launch of a book on the Rafale defence deal.

Sahoo said the Election Commission had not issued any orders blocking the book’s release, The Hindu reported. Publishers Bharati Puthakalayam are expected to go ahead with the launch of the Tamil book authored by S Vijayan, the title of which translates to Rafale: A Scam That Rocked the Nation. The Hindu Chairman N Ram is reportedly the chief guest of the event.

Earlier on Tuesday, a team of election commission and police officials had reportedly seized about 150 copies of the book from the publishers in Chennai. The team was led by S Ganesh, Assistant Executive Engineer of the Thousands Lights Constituency, who told the publisher that the book launch went against the model code of conduct for elections, said The Hindu. He gave a hand-written letter banning the book’s release and sale.

Sahoo, however, claimed that the squad was not acting on the Election Commission’s orders. “I have directed DEO [District Election Officer], Chennai, to look into and give his report immediately,” he told The Hindu.

Earlier in the day, the book’s publisher told the media that they first wanted to hold the launch event at a school, but were denied permission from school authorities. They then decided to hold it in their office, but the flying squad intervened.

The Rafale scam pertains to allegations from some journalists, the Opposition, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan about alleged irregularities in the India-France deal for procurement of Rafale aircraft. The Congress has accused the government of overpaying for the fighter aircraft and claimed that the deal has benefited Anil Ambani, whose company Reliance Defence was chosen to fulfill the offset obligations in the deal. N Ram and The Hindu have also published several pieces that, among other things, question the pricing of the aircraft and point to alleged interference by the Prime Minister’s Office in the negotiations.

The Supreme Court in December dismissed a clutch of public interest litigations, including a petition submitted by seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the Rafale deal. The court had said there was “no occasion to doubt the Centre’s decision-making process in the deal”. A review plea was filed against the order, which the Supreme Court is expected to decide on soon.