In a huge setback to the ruling DMK government, the Madras High Court on Tuesday convicted Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy in a disproportionate assets case. The court has ordered him to appear on December 21, when the quantum of the sentence will be pronounced.
Justice G. Jeyachandran of Madras High Court allowed the government appeal preferred by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) in 2017 and set aside the April 18, 2016, order passed by a special court for Prevention of Corruption Act cases in Villupuram acquitting Ponmudy and his wife P. Visalatchi from the case. Stating that the trial court had erred in acquitting the accused, Justice Jeyachandran said the trial court did not analyse the prosecution's case in the right perspective.
When Ponmudy's counsel N.R. Elango asked the judge to suspend the sentence to allow the minister to appeal in the Supreme Court, Justice Jeyachandran said the plea will be considered on December 21.
On June 28, 2023, a principal sessions court in Vellore had acquitted Ponmudy and his wife in a disproportionate assets case due to lack of sufficient evidence. The DVAC registered the case against Ponmudy for amassing wealth worth Rs 1.79 crore disproportionate to known sources of income, when he was the minister for mines during 1996-2001.
Registered in 2002, the case was pending in the Villupuram court in which Ponmudy and Visalatchi were acquitted. The Madras High court, had earlier, taken up the revision of the acquittal suo moto. Justice Anand Venkatesh took up the case and ordered notices to minister Ponmudy DVAC. During one of the hearings in the court, Venkatesh had even ripped apart the manner in which the Disproportionate Assets case against Ponmudy and Visalatchi were transferred from the Villupuram District Court to Vellore District Court.
The conviction has turned out to be a huge embarrassment for the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu, which is already fighting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in several cases filed against the sitting ministers. Ponmudy will now have to be dropped from Chief minister M.K. Stalin's cabinet because of the conviction. Minister Senthil Balaji is already in Puzhal Central Prison after he was accused in a PMLA case by the Enforcement Directorate.
