Madras High Court convicts T.N. Minister Ponmudy, his wife, in a disproportionate assets case

Convicted of disproportionate assets, Madras High Court orders Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy & wife P. Visalatchi to appear Dec 21 for sentencing.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday convicted Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and his wife P. Visalatchi in a disproportionate assets case and ordered their appearance before it on December 21, 2023 to hear them before deciding the quantum of sentence.

.Justice G. Jayachandran allowed a State government appeal preferred in 2017 and set the April 18, 2016 order passed by a special court for Prevention of Corruption Act cases in Villupuram acquitting both the accused from the case. The judge held that the trial court had erred in acquitting the accused without analysing the prosecution’s case in the right perspective.

When Senior Counsel N.R. Elango urged the judge to suspend the sentence to enable them to appeal to the Supreme Court, he said the plea would be considered on December 21.

The prosecution’s case was that the accused had amassed ₹1.79 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income during the check period between April 13, 2006, and March 31, 2010. They were booked for not being able to explain it.