The Madras High Court sentenced Ponmudy and his wife to 3 years of simple imprisonment in the disproportionate assets case on 21 December 2023.
Former Tamil Nadu Minister Ponmudy. (X)
K Ponmudy, former higher education minister of Tamil Nadu, and his wife P Visalakshi have been granted exemption from surrendering by the Supreme Court, on Friday, 12 January, as reported in The Hindu.
The Supreme Court had heard a plea filed by the former minister and his wife against the conviction and sentence in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case.
The plea requested that the conviction and sentence be suspended. The plea also sought for exemption from surrendering in prison on account of Ponmudy’s seniority.
Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, in a chamber sitting, granted the interim relief to the couple, whose special leave petition against their conviction and three-year sentence in the case by the Madras High Court in December is pending admission in the apex court.
Ponmudy and his wife were represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra.
Earlier, on 6 November 2023, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with the pleas of Ponmudy and his wife.
On 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 disqualified Ponmudy as legislator, and in turn as, minister.
The Madras High Court sentenced Ponmudy and his wife to three years of simple imprisonment in the disproportionate assets case on 21 December 2023.
The court has given both convicted persons 30 days to surrender and approach the Supreme Court for remedies. Justice G Jayachandran of the Madras High Court also imposed a fine of ₹50 lakh each on them.
Following the conviction, Chief Minister MK Stalin allotted his Higher Education Portfolio to Backward Classes Welfare Minister RS Rajakannappan.
Ponmudy was the minister of transport in the DMK government between 13 May 1996 and 30 September 2001.
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 DSP of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption submitted a final report against the accused before the chief judicial magistrate-level special judge in Viluppuram. The case was thereafter taken on file as Special Case 3 of 2003.
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.
However, 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.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, the judge holding the portfolio for cases relating to MPs and MLAs, called for the records related to the case.
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”.
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