Madras HC cancels his clean chit, orders TN minister Periyasamy to face trial in 2012 DA case

NEW DELHI: The Madras high court on Monday set aside the trial court’s decision to discharge Tamil Nadu rural development minister I Periyasamy, his wife and two children in a 2012 disproportionate assets case.

A bench of justice P Velmurugan also ordered a Dindigul special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis against the minister and his family and complete the trial in six months.

Apart from Periyasamy, the minister for rural development, panchayats and panchayat union, his wife Suseela and two sons P Prabhu and P Senthilkumar are also the accused in the case.

According to the state’s anti-graft agency, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), the minister and his family amassed disproportionate assets worth ₹2.1 crore between 2006 and 2010 when Periyasamy was a minister in the K Karunanidhi government.

DVAC registered a first information report (FIR) against Periyasamy and his family in 2012 when J. Jayalalithaa was the chief minister. After the special court discharged the four accused, DVAC filed criminal revision petitions in 2018 when AIADMK’s O Panneerselvam was the chief minister.

Justice Velmurugan’s ruling on Monday comes days after his April 23 verdict which set aside a 2007 Vellore court order that discharged state water resources minister and DMK general secretary Durai Murugan in a disproportionate assets case.

In this case, Murugan was accused of accumulating assets to the tune of ₹3.92 crore between 1996 and 2001 when was the public works minister in the Karunanidhi government. The minister’s son and MP Kathir Anand was also booked in the case. His wife D Santhakumari, brother Durai Singaram, daughter-in-law K. Sangeetha were also listed as accused in the corruption case.

In the pecking order in the cabinet as well as the party, 86-year-old Durai Murugan is second only to chief minister MK Stalin.