Madras High Court reverses acquittal of two DMK ministers in disproportionate assets cases; orders fresh trial

Chennai: In a serious setback to the ruling DMK, the Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside the discharge of two senior ministers of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s cabinet in disproportionate assets (DA) cases by a special court by calling their acquittal a “clearly orchestrated plan” after the party returned to power in Tamil Nadu in 2021 summer.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who took suo motu revisions of the two cases after observing that investigating officers changed their stance following the change of government in May 2021, directed Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Revenue Minister K K S S R Ramachandran to stand trial again in the cases filed against them.

The court also directed the Principal Sessions Court (Special Court for MP/MLA cases) at Sriviliputhur in Virudhunagar district to frame charges against Thenarasu and Ramachandran and conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis. While Thenarasu has been asked to appear before the court on September 11, Ramachandran will do so on September 9.

The verdict only adds to the woes of the DMK whose ministers K Ponmudy and Anitha R Radhakrishnan are already facing probe by Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While Justice Venkatesh has already taken up the suo motu case of Ponmudy’s discharge in a DA case, V Senthil Balaji resigned as a minister in 2023 after being jailed in a cash-for-jobs scam when he helmed the Transport department during the AIADMK rule.

In a damning indictment of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), an arm of the state government, Justice Venkatesh said the acquittal of the two ministers by the special court is part of a “clearly orchestrated plan" while setting aside the orders acquitting Thenarasu and Ramachandran in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

“Once the two Ministers were back to power, the DVAC officials decided or were told by their higher-ups to find ways and means to ensure that the prosecutions were torpedoed. The perfect plan was thus drawn up,” the judge wrote in identical judgments.

The cases against the ministers, both hailing from Virudhunagar district, were filed in 2011 and 2012 by the then J Jayalalithaa regime after the DMK lost the elections. Ramachandran and Thennarasu were ministers in the 2006-2011 M Karunanidhi-led DMK government. Both were acquitted from the DA cases filed against them in 2022 after the DVAC gave clean chits to them following the filing of supplementary chargesheets, which differed from the initial chargesheets.

The judge also made it clear on Wednesday that it has not examined or commented upon the merits of the case, which will be decided by the special court on merits, without being influenced by any of the observations made by the High Court.

Justice Venkatesh observed that when the accused filed an “ostensible written argument”, the DVAC, with all sincerity, received them with open arms and then hunted for material to back up the defence of the accused, culminating with the final closure report.

“What is striking is that the so-called written argument, the intimation for further investigation and the final closure report were filed on the same day in both cases,” the judge said while asserting that he considers “sacrosanct Constitutional duty” of the High Court to intervene to prevent the grossest abuse of the judicial process.

If the rule of law is to mean anything, it must mean that politicians and the common man of this State will be equal before the Courts and that the butcher, the baker and the candlelight maker will be treated just the same as a Revenue, Housing or Finance Minister, Justice Venkatesh wrote.

“Before drawing the curtains, this Court is only reminded of the following words of James Jeffrey Roche: ‘The net of law is spread so wide, No sinner from its sweep may hide, Its meshes are so fine and strong, They take in every child of song, O wondrous web of mystery! Big fish alone escape from thee!’,” he added.

While taking up the suo motu petitions, Justice Venkatesh had come down heavily on officials from the DVAC, suggesting that they have changed their stance after 2021, in a veiled reference to the year DMK replaced AIADMK as the governing party in Tamil Nadu.

In Ramachandran’s case, the DVAC filed a chargesheet in 2012 against him and three others, including his wife. The case was then transferred to Principal Sessions Court in April 2019 following which the accused filed individual petitions seeking discharge from the case.

However, in 2021, the IO decided to conduct a fresh investigation and file a closure report in October 2022, which was accepted by Principal Sessions Judge V. Thilaham on July 20, 2023.

The DVAC filed a case against Thennarasu and his wife in February 2012 and filed the chargesheet within months in November 2012. Thenarasu’s case was also transferred to Principal Sessions Judge in 2019 and investigating officer took up further investigation in September 2021 and filed a supplementary report in October 2022. The minister was discharged from the case in December 2022.