Chennai, Aug 7 (UNI) The Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside the discharge of Tamil Nadu Ministers KKSSR Ramachandran and Thangam Thenarasu in Disproportionate Assets (D) case filed against them in 2011 and 2012.
Passing orders on the suo motu criminal revision petitions, Justice Anand Venkatesh set aside an order passed by a special court for MP/MLA cases on July 20, 2023 discharging Revenue and
Disaster Management Minister Ramachandran, his wife R. Adhilakshmi and friend K.S.P. Shanmugamoorthy and restored the DA case back to the file of the Special Court.
He also reversed the discharge of Finance Minister Thennarasu and his wife T.Manimegalai, while setting aside an order passed by the special court for MP/MLA cases on December 12, 2022
discharging them in the case.
The Court directed both the Ministers to appear before the Special Court. “The accused are directed to appear before the special court on September 11, 2024.
"On such appearance, the special court shall obtain a bond under Section 88 of CrPc with or without sureties as the special court may deem fit and necessary” the judge said.

Finding that there was prima facie material to proceed with the trial, the court directed the special court to frame charges and proceed with the trial expeditiously on a day-to-day basis.
The allegation against Ramachandran is that he, along with his wife and friend accumulated wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income while serving as a Minister for Health and later as Minister for Backward Classes in the DMK regime between 2006 and 2011.
On a preliminary inquiry, DVAC found that a prima facie case was made out and the Minister and his wife were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In July 2023, DVAC however filed a final report saying that no offences were made out and accepting this, the Special Court discharged the Minister.
The allegation against Mr Thangam Thenarasu is that while serving as a Minister for school education during the DMK regime from 2006-2011, he and his wife amassed disproportionate assets.
Based on searches conducted in his residence in Virudhunagar and Chennai, a case was filed by the DVAC under PCA.
However, after taking note of a final report saying that no offence was made out, the Special Court discharged him too in December 2023.
While taking suo motu cognisance against the orders of their discharge in August last year, Justice Venkatesh noted that the approach of the special court was ex-facie illegal and that the court had no power to discharge the accused without assigning any reason.
He noted that the court had failed to give an independent reasoning in the order of discharge and
was “literally playing the role of lady justice by blindfolding itself”.
Both Mr Ramachandran and Mr Thangam Thenarasu defended their acquittal and argued that the investigation was initiated against them in a tainted manner with a biased mind which violated their fundamental rights. The Ministers also submitted that the Magistrate had discretion to look into the reports submitted by the prosecution, both positive and negative, and arrive at his decision.
UNI GV 1530