Special court on corruption to hear ex-AIADMK minister case: HC

Originally, following complaints from Arappor Iyakkam, a non-governmental organisation which claimed it was fighting against corruption, and DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had registered two FIRS against Velumani

The special court constituted to hear corruption cases against MPs and MLAs will hear the two related cases registered against former municipal administration minister S P Velumani, the first bench of the Madras high court said on Tuesday.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice Sundar Mohan gave a direction when the two corruption cases were taken up. (HT Archives)

The bench of Acting Chief Justice M Duraiswamy, retiring on Wednesday, and Justice Sundar Mohan gave a direction to this effect when the two corruption cases were taken up.

The special court is headed by Justice P N Prakash. Velumani was minister in the previous AIADMK regime.

The interim stay granted by the court earlier will continue to operate till the final hearing of the case, the bench added.

Originally, following complaints from Arappor Iyakkam, a non-governmental organisation which claimed it was fighting against corruption, and DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had registered two FIRS against Velumani. The complaints alleged large-scale irregularities in the award of contracts pertaining to Chennai and Coimbatore corporations during the AIADMK regime. The charge against the Coimbatore AIADMK strongman was that he had allotted the contracts to his benamis, relatives and close friends and thereby caused crores of loss to the state exchequer.