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Duraimurugan, Minister for Water Resources.
| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy
The Madras High Court has decided to hear on Friday (December 6, 2024), 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, currently holding the portfolio to hear cases against sitting as well as former MPs and MLAs, accepted a request made by the Minister’s advocate Richardson Wilson for a short adjournment to enable the appearance of senior counsel Sidharth Luthra and other senior advocates from New Delhi. The judge directed the High Court Registry to list the batch of cases for hearing on Friday.
Mr. Duraimurugan, 86, now serving as the general secretary of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and holding the second position in 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.
However, 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) on corruption charges and conducted raids in the residence of Mr. Duraimurugan and several other places connected 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 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.
M.K. Alagiri’s 2014 land grab case
Justice Velmurugan also adjourned to Friday a criminal revision case filed by the Inspector of Police, Anti Land Grabbing special unit, Madurai city, in 2021 against the discharge of former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri from some provisions of law in a 2014 land grab case. It related to alleged grabbing of a temple land for an engineering college established by M.K. Alagiri Educational Trust at Sivarakottai.
In 2021, a judicial magistrate in Madurai had discharged Mr. Alagiri from facing trial for the charges under Sections 420 (cheating), 423 (fraudulent execution of deed), 465 (forgery) and 471 (illegal use of forged document) of the Indian Penal Code. The Magistrate, however, insisted that he must face the charges under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 408 (criminal breah of trust) of the IPC.
While the prosecution had filed the criminal revision case before the High Court challenging his discharge from certain provisions of law, he had also filed a revision before the Madurai Principal District Court challenging the refusal of the Magistrate to discharge him in toto. Both the revision cases have been pending before the respective courts for the last three years.
Published – December 01, 2024 02:09 pm IST
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