HC directs former minister to face trial in land grab case

The Madras High Court today set aside a Sessions Court order discharging a former minister in the DMK government, K Ponmudi, in a land grab case and directed him to face trial.
Passing an order on a revision petition filed by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), Justice P Velmurugan held that a prima facie case was made out against Ponmudi.
The prosecution had alleged that Ponmudi had grabbed about 3,600 square feet of government land at Saidapet here in 1998 using fabricated documents when he was the transport minister.
The DVAC had registered cases under various sections of the IPC as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act against him and nine others.

The third Additional Sessions Court here discharged Ponmudi on April 26, 2007.
Incidentally, the property was also included in a disproportionate assets case filed against Ponmudi in a Villupuram court. In this case too, the former minister and other accused had been discharged.

A special leave petition filed by the state government against this was pending before the Supreme Court.
Justice Velmurugan in his order said both the cases were distinct and there was no overlapping, as held by the trial court.
The land grab case involved the acquisition of property through forged documents and abuse of official position. The other case pertained to the acquisition of assets, disproportionate to Ponmudi's known sources of income, the judge said.

There was no overlapping between them except for the fact that the property illegally acquired in this case had been shown in the list of assets acquired by the accused in the wealth case, he said.