The Madras High Court has sentenced three years of simple imprisonment to the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his wife Visalatchi to three in a disproportionate assets case.
The Sentence was peonounced by Justice G Jayachandran after having convicted the duo on December 19.
A fine to the tune of ₹50 lakh in addition to their jail sentence was imposed on Ponmudi and his wife.
Earlier the trial court had decided to acquit the couple in the corruption case but it was overturned by Justice Jayachandran earlier this week, after which they were directed to appear before the Court for the imposition of punishment.
Ponmudi and his wife were present in the courtroom today when the sentence was pronounced. They requested the Court to show some leniency, considering their age and since it was an old case.
In April 2016, T Sundaramoorthy, a special Judge for cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, had acquitted Ponmudi and Visalatchi saying that the prosecution, who had claimed that the couple possessed wealth and assets worth ₹1.75 crores in excess of their known sources of income, had failed to establish the guilt of the accused.
The couple approached the Supreme Court challenging the suo motu order passed by the Madras High Court earlier.
The Supreme Court in November refused to entertain the petitions challenging the suo motu order passed by the Madras High Court, which re-opened the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister Ponmudi and his wife Visalatchi in a disproportionate assets case. Supreme Court hails Justice Anand Venkatesh of Madras HC for re-opening acquittal of TN Minister Ponmudi and his wife.
The Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud praised Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court for passing the suo motu order and dismissed the petitions filed by the couple.
However, the Apex Court granted them liberty to raise their contentions before the High Court, noting that the matter was pending before a single-judge bench of the High Court.
In August this year, Justice Venkatesh had exercised his suo motu revision powers to hold that the transfer of case against Ponmudi from the Villupuram District Judge to the Vellore District Judge was ‘ex-facie illegal’ and ‘non-est’ in the eye of law.
The transfer order was, ironically, passed by the Madras High Court itself in its administrative side in July 2022. Justice Venkatesh had raised several questions over the transfer and acquittal, and issued notice to the Prosecutor and the accused for fresh hearing.
The couple moved the Apex Court challenging this order of the High Court.
As soon as the hearing commenced on Monday, the Apex Court said it was not inclined to entertain the petition.
The Bench then told Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, that the couple could raise their legal grounds in the High Court since it had no suo motu power.
It said Thank God the Madras High Court has judges like Anand Venkatesh. Mentioning the way in which the Chief Justice transferred the trial from one district to another, the Bench asked about the administrative power to transfer a trial, adding that this was not administrative, but judicial power.
Noting that Justice Anand Venkatesh was ‘absolutely’ right in his observations, the Apex Court said the matter was placed before someone else and the trial was hurried, ending in an acquittal.
It further pointed out that the judge has only issued notice to the prosecution and accused and that the matter was still pending before the High Court.
DVAC, the prosecution in the case, had filed an appeal challenging this order and the DVAC’s appeal was upheld by the High Court.
Ponmudi and his wife are also parties to a suo motu revision case initiated by the High Court earlier this year questioning the couple’s acquittal in another case of disproportionate assets in June this year by now-retired principal district judge N Vasanthaleela.
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