ED summons Ponmudi, son to appear today evening in money laundering case

Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his son who left the Enforcement Directorate office in the wee hours of Tuesday have been summoned to appear this evening in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sand mining.

After almost an overnight enquiry by the ED officials, both Ponmudi and his MP son Gautham Sigamani were allowed to go home at about 3.30 am today and asked to appear before the ED officials at 4 pm today for further enquiry, DMK spokesperson and advocate A Saravanan said.

He claimed that the Minister cooperated well with the central agency and wondered the necessity to put a 72-year-old Minister to an overnight ordeal merely for obtaining a statement. Nothing would have happened if the ED officials had asked him to appear in the morning for obtain the statement," he said.

The raids were held at the premises of Ponmudy and his son in state capital Chennai and in the minister's stronghold of Villupuram.

The ruling DMK dubbed the action as "political vendetta."

The ED teams were escorted by armed personnel of the CRPF and they made some seizures of documents.

The 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.

No unaccounted cash or any incriminating documents were seized from the Minister as being claimed, Saravanan told reporters here and sought to know if the central agency has issued any press statement regarding the seizure.

What's the logic in inquiring into a case 13 years after it was registered. This is nothing but a political vendetta by the BJP government because Ponmudi took on Governor R N Ravi on the new education policy, appointment of vice chancellors and other key issues, he added.

Tamil Nadu BJP vice president Narayanan Tirupathy, however, claimed that the Minister was not arrested as his colleague V Senthil Balaji was, because Ponmudi cooperated.