Ramachandran is the third DMK minister to be discharged from an disproportionate assets case that was filed during the AIADMK regime.
In 2011, the DVAC filed a case against Ramachandran, stating that he had acquired properties in his name and in the names of his family members to the tune of several lakh rupees. (Commons)
Virudhunagar Principal Sessions Court, on Thursday, 20 July, discharged Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister KKSSR Ramachandran from the disproportionate assets cases registered against him and his family members during the AIADMK regime.
Based on a report filed by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) that the minister and his family members had not amassed wealth, the court discharged him from the charges.
The DVAC filed a case against Ramachandran — during his tenure as the minister for health and later as the minister for backward classes welfare in the DMK government between 2006 and 2011 — stating that he had acquired properties in his name and in the name of his family members to the tune of several lakh rupees.
The Virudhunagar unit of the DVAC, in December 2011, registered a case under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 after a prima facie case was made out against Ramachandran that he had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.
In February 2012, the DVAC filed a charge sheet and a final report against Ramachandran, his wife Adhilakshmi, and Shanmugamoorthy, a close aide of Ramachandran.
In 2016, Ramachandran approached the Madras High Court’s Madurai Bench to quash the disproportionate assets case against him.
As the case was pending a hearing, the court in 2021 ordered a reinvestigation.
Following this, the DVAC reinvestigated the case and submitted a report in the Virudhunagar Sessions Court based on 10 documents, stating that Ramachandran and others had not amassed wealth using his capacity as the minister and gave him and others accused a clean chit.
Accepting the report, the Sessions Court discharged him, his wife, and Shanmugamoorthy from the case.
After the DMK came to power, Ramachandran is the third minister to be discharged from a disproportionate assets case that was filed during the AIADMK regime.
In December 2022, the Thoothukudi District & Sessions Court acquitted social welfare minister Geetha Jeevan, her brother N Jegan Periasamy, who is also the Thoothukudi mayor, and three other members of her family in a disproportionate assets case filed against them during the AIADMK government in 2001.
Geetha Jeevan was Thoothukudi district panchayat chairperson during that period and the DVAC filed a case charging her of amassing wealth — disproportionate to their known sources of income — to the tune of ₹2.31 crore during the DMK’s rule between 1996 and 2001.
In June 2023, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy, his wife Visalakshi, and relatives were discharged from the disproportionate assets case filed by the DVAC in 2011.
The DVAC had filed the case stating that the minister had amassed ₹1.36 crore disproportionate to his known source of income when he served as Minister for Mines and Minerals in the DMK regime between 2006 and 2011.
The DVAC Police had registered cases against Ramachandran and 14 other former DMK ministers under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Jul 26, 2024
Jul 26, 2024
Jul 26, 2024
Jul 25, 2024
Jul 21, 2024
Jul 21, 2024
