Duraimurugan. File
| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy
The Madras High Court on Monday (January 6, 2025) reserved its orders on a batch of five criminal revision cases preferred by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) in 2013 against the 2007 discharge of Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan and his family members from a disproportionate assets case booked in 2002 for having allegedly amassed the wealth between 1996 and 2001.
Justice P. Velmurugan deferred his verdict after hearing elaborate arguments advanced by senior counsel Siddharth Luthra and P. Wilson for the Minister and his family members, as well as Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran for the DVAC.
Mr. Duraimurugan, 86, now serving as the general secretary of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and holding the second position in terms of seniority in the present council of Ministers led by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, had served as Minister for Public Works Department (PWD) in former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s Cabinet between 1996 and 2001.
After the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by its then leader Jayalalithaa returned to power in the State in 2001, the DVAC registered a First Information Report (FIR) against him on corruption charges and conducted raids at his residence in Chennai and several other places linked to him, as well as his family members, in October 2002.
On February 23, 2007, a special court in Vellore discharged the Minister, his wife D. Santhakumari, brother Durai Singaram, son D.M. Kathir Anand (now a Member of Parliament representing Vellore constituency in the Lok Sabha) and daughter-in-law K. Sangeetha from the 2002 case booked under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988.
The DVAC had preferred the present criminal revision cases, challenging the discharge orders, only in March 2012 with a delay of 1,789 days. The High Court condoned the delay on February 27, 2013, by taking into account that the DMK was in power in the State between 2006 and 2011 and took the criminal revision cases on file. The revision cases were numbered in 2013 and remained pending since then.
Justice Velmurugan, holding the MP/MLA portfolio at present, expressed concern over the revision petitions pending for more than a decade and refused to grant long adjournments. He insisted that the counsel must argue the matter at the earliest so that a quietus could be given to the case pending for long.
\
Published – January 06, 2025 02:08 pm IST
