The Madras High Court's single bench decided to suo moto review a case on the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his wife in a disproportionate assets case. The case has been listed as item no 124. On June 28, a Vellore court acquitted the Minister and his wife. On Thursday, Justice Anand Venkatesh invoked Section 397 of CrPC. He then decided to hear the case on Thursday.
Section 397 of CrPC empowers calling for records to exercise powers of revision. The judge explained that the suo moto amendment of the Vellore court ruling was made because the court believed that some injustice had been done, said a report on IANS.
During AIADMK regime in 2002, a complaint was filed against Ponmudi and his wife K Visalakshi alleging that he had got income over Rs 3 crore in excess of his recognised sources of income. He was booked under
Ponmudi was charged with amassing illegal assets while he was the Minister of Transport and Highways during DMK government between 1996 and 2001 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
On June 28, Vellore magistrate court judge Vasanthasheela declared that the prosecution had failed to present enough and legally sufficient evidence against the defendants, leading to the Minister and his wife's acquittal.
As a result, the single bench of the Madras High Court will test the correctness of the judgment of the Vellore court, the report said.
Meanwhile, Enforcement Directorate questioned the Minister and froze his fixed deposit of Rs 41.9 crore on July 17-18. The ED took action against the Minister due to anomalies during his stint as Minister of Mining between 2007 and 2011 when there were claims of violation of quarry licence. The anomaly has also resulted in the loss to the exchequer by around Rs 28 crore.
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