Corruption Case: Tamil Nadu Minister K Ponmudi And Wife Sentenced To Three Year Imprisonment (image X @KPonmudiMLA)

Madras High Court sentenced Tamil Nadu minister to 3 years of simple imprisonment and a fine of 50 lakh. The state’s higher education minister K Ponmudy was sentenced for jail in a 1.75 crore disproportionate assets case, said ANI. The case was about the DMK minister amassing a wealth of Rs. 1.75 crore in his name and his wife’s name during DMK-led rule from 2006 to 2011. The amount is said to be 65.99 percentage more than his known source of income back then.

The minister and his wife were acquitted from the case in 2016 by a trial court in Villupuram. On Tuesday, the High Court set aside the trial court’s verdict and noted that the charge is punishable under the 1988 Prevention of Corruption Act. The High Court observed that “a complete miscarriage of justice had occurred by the omission of reliable evidence and by mis-interpretation of the evidence”.

Justice Jayachandran held the trial court wrong for considering the accused couple as separate entities and not considering them together. The High Court called the verdict by the trial court as “palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous and demonstrably unsustainable”. The latest sentence Madras High Court has been suspended for 30 days allowing the convicted couple to go for higher appeal.

The minister and his wife requested for minimal punishment by submitting their medical record and showed the minister is now 73-years-old and his wife is 60-years-old. The couple also added that the case is very old.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) case against the Tamil Nadu minister and his wife was registered in 2002 while the then AIADMK was in power. The case claimed that Mr. Ponmudy has garnered illegal wealth during his term as minister in the state government from the 1996-2001.