ED raids Tamil Nadu Minister Ponmudy and his son's offices in money laundering case, DMK calls it ‘political vendetta’

On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at the premises of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his son Gautham Sigamani in a money laundering case, news agency PTI reported. 

The report claimed that the father-son's offices in the state capital Chennai and Villupuram are being raided, while the ruling DMK referred to the operation as a "political vendetta." The 72-year-old minister serves as an MLA for the Villupuram district's Tirukkoyilur Assembly seat, while his 49-year-old son Sigamani is a member of parliament for the Kallakurichi seat.

The money laundering case is linked to alleged irregularities when Ponmudy was the state mining minister between the years 2007 and 2011. There were allegations of violation of quarry licence conditions leading to a loss of about Rs 28 crore to the exchequer.

The Madras High Court rejected Sigamani's petition for a stay of the trial in this matter in June after the state police had filed a complaint to investigate these allegations of alleged corruption against the minister and those associated with him.

The minister is accused of obtaining mining/ quarry licences for his son and other family members, and the licensees are alleged to have quarried red sand beyond the permissible limit.

The High Court said there were grounds to presume that the petitioner has committed the offence; hence, the trial cannot be stopped.

On the day when DMK Chief Minister and President M K Stalin was supposed to attend the Congress-led Opposition meeting in Bengaluru, the governing party in Tamil Nadu said that Stalin has been instrumental in the state's fight against the BJP and that the ED move is intended to "intimidate" it.

"This is political vendetta and aimed at testing the DMK's resolve," party spokesperson A Saravanan told PTI.

He alleged there has been no action from Central authorities against the AIADMK leaders on graft cases such as the one involving the Gutka scandal.

Last month, ED arrested former Electricity Minister for the state of Tamil Nadu, Senthil Balaji, in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam that took place in the state's transport department after an 18-hour search.

(With PTI inputs)