ED raids: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday (July 17) raided the premises of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his son Gautham Sigamani in connection with a money laundering case, sources said.
The raids were conducted at the premises of the father-son duo in the state capital Chennai and in Villupuram.
The ruling DMK dubbed the action a “political vendetta”. The 72-year-old minister is an MLA from the Tirukkoyilur Assembly seat in the Villupuram district while his 49-year-old son Sigamani is a Member of Parliament representing the Kallakurichi seat.
The case is linked to the alleged irregularities when Ponmudy was the state mining minister (between 2007 and 2011) when there were allegations of violation of quarry licence conditions leading to a loss of about Rs 28 crore to the exchequer.
The Tamil Nadu Police had registered a complaint to investigate the charges of alleged corruption against the minister and also those linked to him.
Madras HC refused relief to Sigamani
Sigamani approached the Madras High Court in June with a petition seeking relief, however, the court refused to stay the trial in the case.
The minister is accused of obtaining mining quarry licences for his son and other family members and the licencees are alleged to have quarried red sand beyond the permissible limit.
The High Court observed that there were grounds to presume that the petitioner has committed the offence and hence the trial cannot be stopped.
The DMK said that the action has been taken on a day when Chief Minister MK Stalin was scheduled to take part in the Congress-led Opposition meet in Bengaluru. The party alleged that the action is aimed at 'intimidating' the party.
"This is political vendetta and aimed at testing the DMK's resolve," party spokesperson A Saravanan said.
There has been no action from Central authorities against the AIADMK leaders on graft cases such as the one involving the Gutka scandal, he alleged.
The ED had recently initiated similar action against another minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister M K Stalin after it arrested Transport Minister Senthil Balaji in an alleged cash-for-jobs linked money laundering case.
Stalin and the DMK have slammed the action against Balaji as "intimidation politics" by the Centre.
(With PTI inputs)
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