R. PONNI TO INVESTIGATE CORRUPTION CASE AGAINST ADMK MINISTER S.P. VELUMANI

On October 18 (Friday), the Madras High Court appointed Superintendent of Police R. Ponni to investigate the corruption case against Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani who belongs to ADMK party. R. Ponni is currently serving in the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). The order was passed after the interim order passed on petitions filed by R.S. Bharathi.

R.S. Bharati is the organising secretary of the DMK and a non-governmental organisation 'Arappor Iyakkam' that is represented by its managing trustee Jayaram Venkatesan.

Reportedly, Velumani was accused of awarding hundreds of civil contracts to companies managed by his Benamis. It was stated that Velumani assigned 349 civil contracts, worth several crores of rupees to his Benamis.

As per The Hindu, Vijay Kumar, the director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had been ordered to file a report over the progress of the case on November 1. The court also sent a notice to SP Velumani indicating the last date to file a counter-affidavit against his allegations is November 1.

Reportedly, Velumani had not filed a counter-affidavit in the last eight months since the case was filed against him.  It has to be mentioned that R Ponni was awarded the Kalpana Chawla Award for courage and daring enterprise by late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha in 2014.