In a significant development, Tamil Nadu’s higher education minister, K Ponmudy, has been handed a three-year simple imprisonment term by the Madras High Court in a ₹1.75-crore disproportionate assets case. The court’s decision comes after Ponmudy and his wife were convicted on Tuesday, overturning a trial court’s earlier acquittal. The case revolves around Ponmudy allegedly amassing wealth exceeding 65.99% of his known sources of income during his tenure as a minister in the DMK-led regime from 2006 to 2011.
The High Court not only sentenced Ponmudy but also imposed a hefty fine of ₹50 lakhs each on the minister and his wife. The court highlighted a “complete miscarriage of justice” in the trial court’s earlier verdict, citing the omission of reliable evidence and misinterpretation of facts. Justice Jayachandran emphasized the overwhelming evidence against the accused and deemed the trial court’s acquittal as “palpably wrong, manifestly erroneous, and demonstrably unsustainable.”
Furthermore, the judge criticized the trial court’s failure to consider the accused couple as a single entity, noting that the substance of the charge against Ponmudy’s wife (A-2) was her role as the spouse of the public servant (A-1) holding assets acquired through unknown sources. The court stressed the need for examining whether the lack of capital or source to yield income proportionate to the properties acquired in the wife’s name was a crucial point overlooked by the trial court.
This legal saga originated in 2016 when a trial court in Villupuram acquitted Ponmudy and his wife. However, the recent High Court decision has set aside that verdict, establishing the offense punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against both accused individuals. The court’s meticulous examination of the evidence and its insistence on a comprehensive review of the case underscore its determination to rectify what it deems a miscarriage of justice in the earlier judgment.
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