Chennai: The Madras High Court, which directed the Thoothukudi court to expedite the hearing of the disproportionate assets case against former minister Anita Radhakrishnan, has dismissed the Enforcement Department’s petition seeking to transfer the case to the special court in Madurai.
The case filed by the anti-corruption department against Anita Radhakrishnan and his family members is under trial in the Thoothukudi court, alleging that during his tenure as a minister in the DMK government from 2001 to 2006, he amassed assets worth Rs 2 crore 7 lakh 96 thousand 384 in excess of his income.
Based on that disproportionate assets case, the Enforcement Directorate filed a complaint petition in the Madurai Special Court against Anitha Radhakrishnan under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. On that basis, it had filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking to transfer the disproportionate assets case pending in the Thoothukudi court to the Madurai Special Court.
After hearing this petition, the High Court had imposed an interim stay on the trial of the disproportionate assets case pending in the Thoothukudi court. Anitha Radhakrishnan had also filed a petition seeking to lift this stay.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Aravind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arulmugan, which heard this case, has stated that since the examination of witnesses in the disproportionate assets case at the Thoothukudi court has been completed and the lawyers are about to begin their final arguments, it cannot be requested to transfer the case to the court in Madurai that hears cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Furthermore, the judges pointed out that government permission had not been obtained to file a case against former minister and MLA Anita Radhakrishnan, and that the Enforcement Department’s case had not yet been admitted for hearing. Stating that the petition had been filed prematurely, they dismissed the Enforcement Department’s petition and issued orders accordingly.
The judges, who lifted the stay imposed on the Tuticorin court proceedings, also ordered that the sand accumulation case be heard and concluded expeditiously.
