The High Court had sentenced Minister Ponmudi and his wife Visalakshi to three years in prison in the case of hoarding of assets. The Supreme Court stayed the verdict and granted bail. Now that period has been extended.
Ponmudi property hoarding case
A case was filed against Minister Ponmudi and his wife Visalakshi for accumulating assets in excess of their income when they were ministers in the DMK regime between 2006 and 2011. Both were released in 2016 due to insufficient evidence while the case was pending in the Villupuram Special Court.
Three years imprisonment
In 2017, the Anti-Corruption Bureau filed an appeal against the verdict in the Madras High Court. The hearing of the appeal in this case was going on in the Madras High Court. The verdict in this case was delivered in December last year. Accordingly, Minister Ponmudi and his wife Visalakshi were sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined Rs 50 lakh each.
This is the first time in DMK!
Convicted under Section 8(1) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Ponmudi was immediately disqualified from ministerial office. This is the first time since the DMK came to power in 1967 that a minister belonging to the party has been convicted in a wealth hoarding case.
Exemption from Surrender
Minister Ponmudi and his wife Visalakshi approached the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict. The Supreme Court had in January exempted Minister Ponmudi and his wife from surrendering in the case.
Ponmudi’s minister post again!
It came up for hearing in the Supreme Court in March in a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oha and Ujjal Bhuyan. At that time, on the insistence of the Ponmudi side, the sentence of three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50 lakh each was suspended by the High Court. As a result Ponmudi was again given the post of minister.
Bail – Term Extension!
The court suspended the 3-year jail sentence awarded to Ponmudi and said that he can get bail within 30 days. A request was made by Minister Ponmudi to extend the time given by the court to get bail. Today, the Supreme Court has extended the period for obtaining bail by another two weeks. This has made the Ponmudi side happy.
