HC sends DMK's K Ponmudy to jail for three years; suspends sentence for one month

Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy was on Thursday awarded three-year simple imprisonment by the Madras High Court, which convicted him in a disproportionate assets (DA) case on Tuesday, leading to his immediate disqualification as an MLA, in a major setback to the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

However, Justice G Jayachandran, taking into account Ponmudy’s position in the state government and his medical condition, suspended the sentence imposed on senior DMK leader and his wife, P Visalatchi, for a month. He asked them to surrender before the trial court on or before January 22, 2024.

Within an hour of the High Court order, Chief Minister M K Stalin allotted the Higher Education portfolio held by Ponmudy to Backward Classes Welfare Minister R S Rajakannappan as an additional charge.

Ponmudy is the first DMK leader to lose his post after being convicted by a court and the third such case for a sitting legislator in Tamil Nadu, following former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and P Balakrishna Reddy, both from the AIADMK.

His conviction comes at a challenging time for the DMK, as Minister V Senthil Balaji remains in jail in a money laundering case since June. Fisheries Minister Anitha R Radhakrishnan is under scrutiny by the ED, and the acquittal of two ministers – Thangam Thennarasu and K K S S R Ramachandran – by trial courts is currently under review by the High Court. Additionally, the recent I-T raids on Public Works Department (PWD) Minister E V Velu and Arakkonam MP S Jagathrakshakan further compound the party's current challenges.

The judge, who had on Tuesday ruled that the acquittal of Ponmudy and Visalatchi by a trial court in 2016 was “palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous and demonstrably unsustainable”, also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh each on them. Failing to pay the fine will attract another six months of imprisonment, Justice Jayachandran added.

While Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami predicted that more DMK leaders will go to jail, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai wondered whether the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai would need an “exclusive cell” to house convicted DMK ministers.

On its part, DMK said the case was part of AIADMK’s “political vendetta” and asserted that it would file an appeal against the High Court order.

Senior counsel and Rajya Sabha MP N R Elango stated that they would present the fact before the Supreme Court that the judge who delivered the verdict served as Law Secretary between 2011 and 2015 under the AIADMK regime when the case in question was filed. Elango added, "He (the judge) is blemishless. But we will inform the court about this."

Ponmudy, a close aide of Chief Minister M K Stalin, is a professor-turned-politician, and is one of the five deputy general secretaries of the DMK. He was also placed fifth in the pecking order of the Cabinet headed by Stalin.

Justice Jayachandran’s conviction order on Tuesday came after he allowed the appeal filed by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) against the trial court order acquitting the husband-wife duo in the case filed against them for amassing assets disproportionate to the known sources of income during Ponmudy’s tenure as Higher Education and Mines Minister between 2006 and 2011.

In his detailed order, Justice Jayachandran held that the assets acquired by Ponmudy and his wife were 65.99 per cent (Rs 1.79 crore) disproportionate to their known sources of income after ruling that segregating the income of the two by the trial court is “patently erroneous contrary to the evidence on record.”

Ponmudy is also already under the scanner of the ED in connection with an 11-year-old case of illegal red sand quarrying, while his 2023 acquittal in another DA case filed in 2001 is being reviewed suo motu by the Madras High Court.

The order is also an embarrassment and blow to the DMK just months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.