DMK to move SC against Madras high court revision of acquittal of ministers

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Thursday said it will move the Supreme Court against the Madras high court taking up, on its own, revision proceedings against three Tamil Nadu ministers who were acquitted by a lower court in disproportionate assets cases.

The development came a day after high court judge, Justice N Anand Venkatesh, initiated suo motu revision of acquittal of two senior DMK leaders and state ministers Thangam Thennarasu and KKSSR Ramachandran in DA cases. On August 10, the judge had exercised revisional powers [under Article 227 of the Constitution and Sections 397/401 of CrPC] suo motu against acquittal of another state minister K Ponmudy in a similar case.

“While the court has the right to take suo motu cognizance of cases, we as a political party also have the responsibility of taking the truth to the people,” DMK organising secretary RS Bharathi, also an advocate, said on Thursday while addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Chennai.

“Such judgments create confusion in the minds of the people. The DMK will certainly move the Supreme Court and argue the issue in court, but we also wanted to clarify it now,” Bharathi said, wondering as to why only cases against DMK ministers were being taken up suo motu.

All three ministers were charged with amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income, during the period 2006-11. The DMK was in power during the period, before losing power to its rival AIADMK, which ruled the southern state for the next 10 years.

After the DMK formed the government again in May 2021, the special court for MP/MLA cases at Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district discharged state’s finance minister Thennarasu, and minister for revenue and disaster management Ramachandran in December 2022 and July this year, respectively. A trail court Vellore had acquitted higher education minister Ponmudy in a DA case in June.

In a strongly worded warning on Wednesday, Justice Venkatesh opined that if this “trend goes unchecked” the special courts meant for MP/MLA trials would become a “playground for all sorts of condemnable practices which are handcrafted and orchestrated to subvert and derail the criminal justice system”.

“It is all too apparent that upon a change of power in the state in 2021, the identities of the accused and the prosecution were obliterated as all the players in the game suddenly found themselves belonging to the same team,” the judge had remarked, while issuing notices to the DMK ministers and others named in the DA cases besides the state government.

In December 2011, months after the AIADMK came to power, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) registered a case against Ramachandran, his wife and friend for allegedly possessing ₹44.59 lakh disproportionate to their known sources of income. Ramachandran served as the state’s health minister (2006 to 2007) and minister for backward classes (2007 to 2011). However, in July this year, the special court accepted DVAC’s closure report that pegged the disproportionate assets to only ₹1.49 lakh.

Similarly, the DVAC registered a case against Thennarasu (then education minister) and his wife in February 2012 alleging that they possessed ₹74.58 lakh disproportionate assets. The special court accepted a closure report in the case in December last year.

Earlier, Justice Venkatesh had taken up suo motu revision of acquittal of Ponmudy in a DA case on August 10.