THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Chennai, Dec 21: In a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case, Tamil Nadu Education Minister K Ponmudy was convicted to three years of simple imprisonment by the Madras High Court on Thursday.
The Education Minister was sentenced by Madras High Court Judge G Jayachandran, who also fined Ponmudy and his wife Rs 50 lakh each.
Since Ponmudy is the Higher Education Minister at the moment, the judge did, however, suspend his sentence for 30 days enabling the convicted parties to file a higher appeal.
The Madras High Court, on Tuesday, nullified the trial court’s verdict that had exonerated Ponmudy from charges in the DA case.
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Disproportionate assets case
When the then-AIADMK government was in power from 1996 to 2001, a case against Ponmudy and his wife was filed with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in 2002. It was alleged that the couple’s income of Rs 1.4 crore was out of proportion to their known sources of income at the time.
During his tenure as a minister in the state administration from 1996 until 2001, Ponmudy allegedly accumulated illicit wealth, according to the DVAC.
A Vellore principal sessions court cleared Ponmudy and his spouse on June 28 on the grounds that the prosecution had not shown enough proof. They were cleared by the Principal District Judge N Vasanthaleela of Vellore.
In August, the Madras High Court decided to initiate a suo motu review of the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Minister K Ponmudy and his wife in the disproportionate assets case following their exoneration in June by a Vellore court.
