CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday ordered maintenance of status quo regarding the properties belonging to former minister and DMK leader Anitha R Radhakrishnan attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the money laundering proceedings against him and his family members.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan granted the interim relief while hearing a batch of appeals filed by the ED challenging the orders of the Appellate Tribunal under SAFEMA, which removed the attachment on 17 of the 18 properties.
The bench adjourned the hearing by three weeks, and directed the respondents to file reply.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR L Sundaresan, assisted by P Siddharthan, submitted that the finding of the Appellate Tribunal that ED cannot attach the properties already attached by DVAC and properties mortgaged with banks is erroneous.
“The ED is entitled to attach all the properties identified as proceeds of crime. If the attachment is lifted, the properties will be alienated by Anitha Radhakrishnan and his family members,” the ASG told the court and pressed for a stay on the tribunal’s May 8, 2025, order.
The ED had attached the properties in 2022 after registering an Enforcement Case Information Report on December 22, 2020, against Radhakrishnan and his family members.
The ECIR was based on an FIR registered by the DVAC in 2006 for amassing Rs 2.07 crore wealth disproportionate to known sources of income during his tenure as minister for housing and urban development during 2001-06 in the then AIADMK government.