The Madras High Court on Thursday sentenced Tamil Nadu state’s higher education minister K Ponmudy to three years of simple imprisonment in a ₹1.75-crore disproportionate assets case. This came two days after the Madras HC convicted Ponmudy and his wife P Visalatchi in a disproportionate assets case, overturning a previous acquittal by a lower court in 2016. Back in July, Ponmudy and his son Gautham Sigamani, the MP from Kallakurichi, were questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Ponmudi and his son in connection with a 2011 case of money laundering linked to alleged illegal sand mining. The ED has alleged that Ponmudy violated the Tamil Nadu Minor Mineral Concessions Act during his tenure as Minister of Mines and Minerals between 2006 and 2011. It has also accused Ponmudy of allocating an illegal red sand quarry in Poothurai in Vanur block, valued at around Rs 28.37 crore. The accusations against him and his wife in the disproportionate assets case also correspond to his tenure as Minister for Mines and Minerals in the DMK government. Ponmudy, who hails from the state’s Villupuram district, has a PhD and even worked as a professor for a while. He was subsequently drawn towards the DMK. He became an MLA for the first time in 1989 from Villupuram. A six-time MLA, the 72-year-old currently represents the Tirukkoyilur constituency in Kallakurichi district and commands considerable influence in the Villupuram-Kallakurichi belt. He is also considered to be the key figure in bringing minority votes to the DMK. If the Supreme Court upholds his conviction, Ponmudy will lose his constituency and ministerial position. Ponmudy’s family runs the Surya Group of Educational Institutions. They own a chain of educational institutions, including engineering colleges, arts and science colleges, and polytechnic institutions. While Sigamani is a first-time MP, the minister’s other son P Ashok Sigamani is a doctor and the president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The minister has had several run-ins with Governor R N Ravi. The latest was earlier this year when Ravi sent a letter of dismissal to DMK leader V Senthil Balaji who was then the Electricity Minister. Responding to Ravi’s statement in May 2022 that the youth should learn Hindi “for better job prospects”, Ponmudy said that Tamil Nadu considered only English and Tamil important. “There are people who say that learning Hindi would help us get jobs. Did we get it? In our state, go and see in Coimbatore … people who sell pani puris, they are all (Hindi speakers),” he said.
