Money Laundering Case Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin Cabinet Minister K Ponmudy Gautham Sigamani | Tamil Nadu ED Raid: Tamil Nadu Education Minister and his son raided, party said

Tamil Nadu ED Raid: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the premises of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his son and MP Gautam Sigmani on Monday (July 17) in a money laundering case. Official sources gave this information.

Sources said that apart from the capital Chennai, Villupuram is also being searched at the premises of the father and son. The ruling DMK has termed the raid as ‘political vendetta’. Higher Education Minister Ponmudi (72) is the MLA from Thirukkoyilur assembly seat in Villupuram district, while his son Sigmani is representing Kallakurichi seat in Lok Sabha.

What is the whole matter?
The money laundering case is related to alleged irregularities from 2007 to 2011, when Ponmudi was Tamil Nadu’s mining minister. They were accused of violating mining license conditions and claimed to have caused a loss of around Rs 28 crore to the exchequer. The state police had filed a complaint against the minister and people associated with him to investigate these allegations of alleged corruption. After this, Sigmani filed a petition in the Madras High Court for relief, but in June the court refused to stay the hearing. The minister is accused of obtaining mining/quarry licenses for his son and other family members and for extracting sand beyond the prescribed limit on the licensees.

The party said political revenge
ED has conducted this raid on the day when DMK President and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin is going to participate in the meeting of opposition parties called by Congress in Bengaluru. The ruling party claimed that the DMK under the leadership of Stalin was playing an important role in countering the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that the purpose of the raids by the ED was to ‘intimidate’ the party.

DMK spokesperson A Saravanan said, “This is an act of political vendetta and is aimed at breaking the resolve of the DMK.” No action has been taken against the central authorities. The ED recently took similar action against Senthil Balaji, another minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister MK Stalin. Earlier, Transport Minister Senthil Balaji was arrested in a money laundering case involving cash in lieu of alleged jobs. At that time too, Stalin and DMK had described the action against Balaji as ‘politics of intimidation’ by the Centre.

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