BJP hails Madras High Court revision order on Tamil Nadu minister's acquittal

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, on Friday, said that the Madras High Court should re-examine recent cases where state ministers were acquitted in disproportionate assets cases at the district court level.

His statement came after the Madras High Court, on Thursday, ordered notice to Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudy and his wife on a criminal revision case initiated by it.

The High Court order came following the acquittal of the duo in a disproportionate wealth case by a trial court in Vellore in June this year.

BJP leader K Annamalai alleged that several ministers from the ruling DMK like Thiru Thangam Thennarasu, KKSSR Ramachandran and Geetha Jeevan have been acquitted recently by district level courts in disproportionate assets cases.

Referring to the order of Justice N Anand Venkatesh who initiated the criminal revision case, Annamalai said that things were "getting fixed at a local level."

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Annamalai also wrote, "The learned judge Justice Anand Venkatesh noted in his judgement that this is “a shocking and calculated attempt to manipulate and subvert the criminal justice system”."

He added that the BJP was happy with the High Court's decision to initiate a revision case on the DMK minister's acquittal.

In the disproportionate assets case against DMK Minister K Ponmudy and his wife, the prosecution had argued that Ponmudy had amassed wealth to the tune of Rs 1.4 crore in his name and that of his wife and friends.

The wealth was disproportionate to his known sources of income when he was a minister during the period between 1996 and 2001, according to the prosecution.