On Tuesday, 19 December, the Madras High Court convicted the minister and his wife in a disproportionate asset case they were acquitted from in 2016.
Published Dec 21, 2023 | 12:00 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 22, 2023 | 4:10 AM
Former Tamil Nadu Minister Ponmudy. (X)
In a huge setback to the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his wife P Visalakshi were on Thursday, 21 December, sentenced to three years’ simple imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case.
Justice G Jayachandran of the Madras High Court also imposed a fine of ₹50 lakh each on them.
The court has given both convicted persons 30 days to surrender and approach the Supreme Court for remedies. Justice Jayachandran also said that an extension on the time may be considered at a later date.
On Tuesday, 19 December, the Madras High Court convicted the minister and his wife in a disproportionate asset case that he was acquitted from in 2016. The conviction automatically disqualifies Ponmudy as legislator, and in turn as, minister.
The court had, on Tuesday, directed Ponmudy and his wife to appear before the court on 21 December to pronounce the sentence.
The move comes as a jolt to MK Stalin-led government in Tamil Nadu. Another minister Senthil Balaji, who has been allowed to continue in the Cabinet without a portfolio, is already in Enforcement Directorate’s custody in a money laundering case.
On Tuesday, The Hindu had reported that Justice G Jayachandran allowed a state government appeal preferred in 2017 and set the 18 April 2016 order passed by a special court for Prevention of Corruption Act cases in Viluppuram acquitting both the accused — Ponmudy and his wife — from the case.
The judge ruled that the trial court erred in acquitting the accused without properly analysing the prosecution’s case.
The minister and his wife’s counsel NR Elango urged the judge to suspend the sentence to enable them to appeal to the Supreme Court. The judge said that the plea would be considered on 21 December.
The minister allegedly acquired and came into possession of properties and other pecuniary resources — in his name and the names of his wife and sons — that were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
In August 2023, the Madras High Court, for the first time in judicial history, took up a suo motu case against an order passed by a special court for the cases relating to MPs and MLAs.
The special court had earlier acquitted Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his relatives in a disproportionate assets case.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, the judge holding the portfolio for cases relating to MPs and MLAs, called for the records related to the case.
He also ordered notices to be sent to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing of the Viluppuram district, Ponmudy, and his wife Visalakshi.
The Madras High Court is said to have found several disparities in the way the asset case was heard and the judgement was delivered.
Making a note of this, Justice Anand Venkatesh stated that the whole process was “a calculated attempt to undermine and thwart the administration of criminal justice”.
Justifying the suo motu revision, he said, “It is clear that where manifest illegality by a criminal court resulting in gross failure of justice comes to the notice of the high court, it is the bounden duty of the high court as a constitutional court to set right the illegality and to ensure that public confidence in the criminal justice system is maintained” and ordered notice to the minister, his wife, and the DVAC.”
Ponmudy was the minister of transport in the DMK government between 13 May 1996 and 30 September 2001.
During this period, the minister allegedly acquired and came into possession of properties and other pecuniary resources — in his name and the names of his wife and sons — that were disproportionate to his known sources of income.
An FIR was registered by the Cuddalore village Anti-Corruption Department on 14 March, 2002, under Section 109 of the IPC read with Sections 13(1)(e) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 against Ponmudy (accused number 1, or A1), his wife Visalakshi (A2), his mother-in-law P Saraswathi (A3), and friends A Manivannan (A4) and A Nandagopal (A5).
After completion of the investigation, Cuddalore’s deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption submitted a final report against the accused before the chief judicial magistrate-level special judge in Villupuram. The case was thereafter taken on file as Special Case 3 of 2003.
The prosecution recorded the statements of 228 witnesses and collected 318 documents, which were produced before the special judge.
Ponmudy and others filed a case before the special judge to discharge them from the case, and it was allowed by the special court on 21 July, 2004.
The state’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) filed an appeal in the Madras High Court against the order. On 11 August, 2006, the high court upheld the order of the special judge.
The matter was carried on appeal to the Supreme Court. On 10 December, 2010, the Supreme Court set aside the order of the lower court and the high court.
The case was revived and the accused — including the minister — was directed to appear before the special court on 3 February, 2014.
On 31 March, 2015, the trial court framed charges against the ministers and others. Meanwhile, the minister’s mother-in-law Saraswathi and his friend Nandagopal died and were discharged from the case.
The case was transferred to Viluppuram’s principal district judge (in the Designated Special Court for the Trial of Criminal Cases relating to elected members of Parliament and members of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu).
On 28 June, 2023, the special court acquitted Ponmudy and others in the case.
Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his wife P Visalakshi challenged in the Supreme Court the suo motu revision taken by Justice Anand Venkatesh against their acquittal in a disproportionate assets case.
On Monday, 9 October, when the case came up for hearing before Justice G Jayachandran in the Madras High Court, the minister and his wife’s counsel NR Elango informed the court that a Special Leave Petition had been filed before the apex court against the suo motu revision.
In the next hearing, on 14 September, Ponmudy and the DVAC — the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption — objected to Justice Anand Venkatesh hearing the case.
They argued that the court had prejudged the issue and argued that the judge must recuse himself from the case as per Section 190(c) of the CrPC, which states that a judge initiating suo motu proceedings should not hear the matter.
Refusing to recuse himself from the case, the judge said that the orders of the high court resonated with the voice of not any individual judge but one institution.
“The decision-making by the high court is an institutional action and not the action of any particular judge,” he observed.
The judge also adjourned the case to 9 October for arguments, mentioning that a fresh roster would come into effect from the first week of October and that these matters could be taken up and heard at length once the next roster was notified by the Madras High Court.
However, Madras High Court Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala changed the roster for the next three months, allocating Justice Jayachandran the portfolio of hearing cases against MPs and MLAs.
Hence, all the six suo motu revisions initiated by Justice Anand Venkatesh — against DMK leaders Ponmudy, Thangam Thennarasu, I Periyasamy, KKSSR Ramachandran, and former AIADMK ministers O Paneerselvam and Valarmathi, will be heard by Justice Jayachandran for the next three months.
Meanwhile, Justice Anand Venkatesh was moved to the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court — the circuit bench of the Madras High Court where judges hear cases on a rotational basis for three months.