After the arrest and imprisonment of Tamil Nadu Minister without portfolio, Senthil Balaji and the long questioning of the Higher Education Minister, K. Ponmudi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has set its eyes on Anitha R. Radhakrishnan, the state Fisheries Minister.
The premier investigating agency has insisted on assisting the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti- Corruption (DVAC) in a disproportionate assets case pending against the state Fisheries Minister.
The Special Public Prosecutor for the ED, N. Ramesh appearing before the Thoothukudi Principal Court said that the accused was a sitting Minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet and therefore the situation should not create even a shadow of public distrust in the handling of prosecution by the state agency.
The ED had recalled the disproportionate assets case against the Minister by the DVAC on September 7, 2006, under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The charge was that he had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income when Radhakrishnan was the Housing Minister in the then AIADMK government from 2001-2006.
The court, however, decided to hear the petition of the ED on August 2 as the Minister and the DVAC had filed separate counter affidavits to the ED’s petition and had questioned the ED’s local standi in the case.
The DVAC filed a charge sheet against the Minister, his wife, son and brothers on July 19, 2013, and the trial court framed charges against the accused on December 15, 2017.
The ED had on December 22, 2020, registered an Enforcement Case Information Report under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002. The ED had then alleged that the prime accused persons were unable to explain the source or prove the genuiness of such cash deposits.
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