Weeks after raiding the residences of senior DMK Minister Senthil Balaji and bringing him under its radar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the country's premier economic offences watchdog, has now brought another DMK Minister, K Ponmudi, under its scanner as the ED sleuths have stormed his residencies and have been conducting raids. 

Ponmudi is a native of Villupuram district and he has been serving as Tamil Nadu's Minister of Higher Education and is one of the closest aides of Chief Minister MK Stalin. While the raids against Senthil Balaji and the events aftermath including his hospitalization had sparked a fresh political tussle between the DMK and BJP with the former accusing the latter of curbing the opposition through raids ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the raids against Ponmudi have fuelled the tussle.

72-year-old Ponmudi is a DMK chieftain and his family runs several ventures and educational institutions. He is an MLA from Tirukkoyilur assembly seat in Villupuram. While Ponmudi's elder son Gautham Sigamani is a Lok Sabha MP, his younger son Ashok Sigamani is the president of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. The raids by ED in the places connected to Ponmudi and family began at 7 am on Monday - July 17. 

Seven teams of ED are conducting searches in Ponmudi's residencies in Chennai and in Villupuram and some of his educational institutions are also being searched. In the wake of the raids, paramilitary forces have been deployed in the places that are being raided. According to our sources, the ED raids against Ponmudi are in connection to a money laundering case that was filed a decade ago. 

The money laundering case is linked to alleged irregularities committed by Ponmudi when he was serving as the Tamil Nadu Minister of Mines between 2007 and 2011. It has been reported that two political leaders were accused of violating the quarry licence conditions that led to the loss of about Rs 28 crore to the state's coffers. Following the violation, a complaint was filed by the Tamil Nadu police to probe these charges of alleged corruption against the minister and his associates. 

In June 2023, the Madras High Court had refused to stay the trial in the case on request by Ponmudi's son Gautham Sigamani in his relief petition. The High Court had observed that there were grounds to presume that the petitioner has committed the offence due to which the trial cannot be stayed. Though the ED is yet to divulge the reason behind the raids, it has been strongly speculated that the raids are being conducted due to these irregularities. 

Moreover, Gautham Sigamani had in 2020 come under the scanner of ED after the agency had attached property worth Rs 8.6 crore that belong to him. Sigamani was accused of illegal acquisition and non-repatriation of foreign exchange earned abroad. The attached asset value of Rs 8.6 crore includes agricultural lands, commercial and residential buildings, bank accounts and shares that were held by Sigamani. 

It is pertinent to note that earlier this month, Ponmudi was acquitted in the land grabbing case registered against him and six others by Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). He was accused of illegally acquiring government's land in Saidapet, Chennai while he was serving as the Minister in the DMK government between 1996 and 2001. As the ED raids at the residencies of Ponmudi had drawn a sharp attention across the state, several DMK and Congress leaders have slammed the BJP regime and attributed these raids to the saffron party's political vendetta. 

#WATCH | Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials search Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi's residence in Villupuram district. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/H9bLkYPk7F

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2023