R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, JULY 17
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted raids at the premises of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his MP son Gautham Sigamani in a money laundering case, official sources said.
VIDEO | "Any action taken by a person (ED chief) who has been illegally appointed will also amount to illegality," says DMK leader RS Bharathi on ED raids at Tamil Nadu Minister K Ponmudy and his MP son in a money laundering case earlier today. pic.twitter.com/70YfjUxZJt
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 17, 2023
His house in Chennai and Villupuram, his son’s and daughter’s residences and at least 12 places linked to him are being searched by the ED. The ED swooped into his premises at 7 am on Monday.
- The raids are being undertaken at the premises of the father-son-daughter, while the ruling DMK dubbed the action ‘political vendetta’
- The BJP keeps winning only because the parties opposed to it do not come together: DMK chief MK Stalin
- This is political vendetta and aimed at testing the DMK’s resolve: Party spokesperson A Saravanan
- ED sources also say that they will summon Ponmudi and his son Sigamani for inquiry after the searches. “We can arrest him if he refuses to cooperate with our summons,” said an official in ED.
The 72-year old minister is an MLA from the Tirukkoyilur Assembly seat in Villupuram district while his 49-year old son Sigamani is a Member of Parliament representing the Kallakurichi seat.
The searches are conducted just hours before Chief Minister MK Stalin is scheduled to leave for the opposition meeting at Bengaluru where leaders of at least 24 opposition parties across India will take part.
VIDEO | "DMK minister K Ponmudy and his MP son Gautham Sigamani have money-laundering cases against them. ED has the right to probe him, that's what courts have said. So, blaming BJP for that is absolutely silly," says Tamil Nadu BJP Vice President Narayanan Thirupathy on ED… pic.twitter.com/kDOPL9qay8
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 17, 2023
“The BJP keeps winning only because the parties opposed to it do not come together. In the Lok Sabha elections, our only target is to bring the BJP down. All the political parties will come together for this. Differences between the Congress and a few regional parties will fade away in due course,” Stalin had said in the interview.
The ED raids at Ponmudi’s place come in the wake of Stalin’s role in uniting the opposition, say sources in the DMK. In fact, Ponmudi was acquitted by the Madras High Court, a week before, in a Disproportionate Assets case and a land grabbing case due to lack of evidence. His son, Gautham Sigamani, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Kallakurichi constituency, was also acquitted in the case.
According to highly-placed sources in the ED, the raids are conducted in a case related to Ponmudi’s stint as Mining minister between 2006-2011, the erstwhile DMK regime under M Karunanidhi. The case was registered in 2012, alleging that Ponmudi had obtained quarry licenses in the name of his son, daughter, relatives and people close to him, when he was the minister of mines and resources. The Madras High Court had recently refused to stay the proceedings in the case which accused the minister of quarrying 2.64 lakh loads of excess red sand, for a plea filed by Sigamani. ED sources also say that the minister and his son have amassed wealth and have huge foreign investments and that there is evidence to prove this.
ED sources also say that they will summon Ponmudi and his son Sigamani for inquiry after the searches. “We can arrest him if he refuses to cooperate with our summons,” said an official in ED.
While the ED raids on DMK minister V Senthil Balaji were conducted two days after the Patna meeting, the second raids are happening on the day of the second meeting. However Ponmudi being a DMK veteran, the raids will only unite the DMK ranks and add strength to the anti-BJP sentiments in Tamil Nadu.
“This is political vendetta and aimed at testing the DMK’s resolve,” party spokesperson A Saravanan said.
There has been no action from Central authorities against the AIADMK leaders on graft cases such as the one involving the Gutka scandal, he alleged.
