Chennai: The enforcement directorate (ED) arrested Tamil Nadu higher education minister K Ponmudy on Monday in an 11-year-old case in which he and his associates are being investigated in relation to alleged laundering of more than £4 million from a sand mining scam when he was a minister in the DMK cabinet between 2006 and 2011.
Ponmudy became the second minister from the DMK-led government to be taken into custody, following the arrest of electricity and excise minister V Senthil Balaji in a cash-for-jobs scam.
The ED conducted searches at nine places connected to Ponmudy and his son P Ashok Sigamani, who is an MP. During the 14-hour operation, the agency seized large amounts of cash, including substantial amounts of foreign currency, and froze fixed deposits in entities connected to the minister, official sources said.
Responding to the consecutive searches on state ministers by ED, chief minister MK Stalin dismissed them as mere drama aimed at diverting public attention. He urged the media to be mindful and questioned the fairness and motives behind such actions.
Earlier, Balaji, arrested by the ED in a cash-for-jobs case, was shifted to the Puzhal Central Prison from a private hospital, official sources said. The minister has been accorded 'A' class facilities in prison. The minister was arrested on June 14 by the ED and his remand was extended till July 26 by a court here. Following his arrest, Balaji was hospitalised. He later underwent a coronary bypass surgery recently at a private hospital.
Balaji's incarceration follows the Madras High Court ruling on July 14 upholding his arrest by the ED in the money laundering case and his subsequent remand in judicial custody by a sessions court.