CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has taken up suo motu revision of two subordinate court orders discharging two key state cabinet ministers from corruption cases filed against them during the AIADMK regime.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh will be initiating the suo motu revision on Wednesday as both the cases are listed before him.
One of the orders, passed by the principal district and sessions judge of Virudnagar district, relates to discharging Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and his wife Manimegalai from the graft case registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in 2012, a year after AIADMK came to power.
The case was registered for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 76.4 crore during his tenure as minister between 2006 and 2011. Similarly, KKSSR Ramachandran, his wife Adilakshmi and a friend Shanmugam were discharged by the same court from the graft case registered against him by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in 2011, as soon as AIADMK returned to power, for amassing assets worth Rs 44.59 crore.
The principal district and sessions court discharged Thangam Thennarasu by an order passed on December 13, 2022, and Ramachandran on July 20, 2023, based on their petitions. It may be noted that Justice Anand Venkatesh recently initiated suo motu revision of another order of the principal district and sessions court in Vellore discharging Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his relatives from a disproportionate assets case.
Ponmudy case: Another witness turns hostile
Villupuram: Another witness - a village administrative officer - turned hostile in the illegal red sand quarry case against Higher Education minister K Ponmudy at the principal district court in Villupuram on Tuesday. This is the second time a witness is turning hostile as, on August 16, the tahsildar, P Kumarabalan, who filed the case against the minister in 2012 turned hostile saying that senior officials had forced him to do it.
Then VAO M Vijayakumar of Poothurai village, where the red sand mine was functioning, appeared as the second witness in the case. He told the trial court that he was forced by senior officials to sign the complaint against Ponmudy. Sources said that Vijayakumar said he had no idea what was written in the statement he signed and that he had no intention of lodging a complaint. Judge R Poornima who heard the case adjourned the hearing to August 29. The court also allowed the petition by Ponmudy, his son Sigamani and K Rajamahendran seeking exemption from personal appearance.