Madras HC convicts TN Higher Education Minister Ponmudy in disproportionate assets case
The case centres around allegations that Ponmudy and his wife amassed assets worth Rs 1.79 crore between April 2006 and March 2010 during his tenure as Mines and Minerals minister.
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Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudy and his wife P Visalakshi was on Thursday sentenced in a disproportionate assets case.The Madras High Court Tuesday convicted K Ponmudy, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Higher Education, and his wife P Visalatchi in a high-profile disproportionate assets case, marking a notable setback for the DMK government. The decision overturns a previous acquittal by a lower court in 2016.
Justice G Jayachandran presided over the appeal filed by the state government’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in 2017. The appeal challenged the acquittal of Ponmudy and Visalatchi by the special court for Prevention of Corruption Act cases in Villupuram. The HC’s verdict found that the trial court had failed to properly assess the prosecution’s evidence, leading to an erroneous acquittal.
The case centres around allegations that Ponmudy and his wife amassed assets worth Rs 1.79 crore, which were 64.9 per cent more than their known sources of income between April 2006 and March 2010. This period corresponds to Ponmudy’s tenure as minister for mines and minerals in the DMK government.
The prosecution argued that the couple had failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for this discrepancy in their finances.
Senior counsel N R Elango, representing the minister, requested the court to suspend the sentence to allow for an appeal to the Supreme Court. However, Justice Jayachandran deferred this plea to December 21, the date set for deciding the quantum of the sentence. Both Ponmudy and Visalatchi have been ordered to appear before the court on this date.
The 2016 acquittal by Villupuram’s special judge T Sundaramoorthy was contested by the DVAC, which filed the appeal in 2017. The acquittal was initially granted on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The High Court’s reversal of this decision is seen as a significant victory for the DVAC, the anti-corruption wing that comes under the state government.
If the Supreme Court does not stay his conviction on appeal, Ponmudy will also lose his ministerial position. Legal circles close to DMK are waiting for the quantum of sentence, on December 21, as the order poses a significant challenge to his political career as it can also lead to his immediate disqualification as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).
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