CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday extended the interim stay granted on the proceedings of disproportionate assets (DA) case against former minister and DMK leader Anitha R Radhakrishnan and family members, pending with the principal sessions and district court in Thoothukudi.
The first division bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, while extending the interim injunction, directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a reply to the petition filed by the former minister, seeking to vacate the interim stay, within two weeks.
The court had issued the interim stay on a petition filed by the ED which had prayed for the court to transfer the DA case from the principal sessions court, Thoothukudi, to the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases in Madurai.
It may be recalled that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) registered the DA case in 2019, alleging amassment of assets worth `2.07 crore disproportionate to known sources of income during 2001-06, when Anitha Radhakrishnan was holding the portfolio of Housing and Urban Development in the then AIADMK government. The minister’s family members were also accused in the case.
Based on the DA case, the ED registered the money laundering case under the provisions of PMLA. When its plea for transferring the case to Madurai was rejected by the principal sessions and district court, it approached the high court.