Another ex-DMK minister arrested on land grabbing charge

K Ponmudi, former Tamil Nadu higher education minister and a close confidant of DMK leader MK Stalin was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a land grabbing case.

Ponmudi, described as the DMK satrap of Villupuram, is the fourth former minister in the Karunanidhi cabinet to be imprisoned, the others being Veerapandi Arumugam, KN Nehru and  NKKP Raja. All these ministers have been arrested in charges of land grabbing at their own fiefdoms.

Arumugam  was granted bail by the Madras High Court  on Tuesday but the DMK’s joy was shot down by the AIADMK government when it got Ponmudi, who had terrorized the bureaucracy during his tenure as minister.

Though Karunanidhi, the DMK chief, alleges that his party workers are being arrested as part of political vendetta and on false charges, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told the state assembly recently that lands worth Rs400 crore has been returned to its rightful owners since her government took office in May.

A senior police officer told this newspaper complainants who approach the anti land grabbing cells have been told by the Police  that they themselves would have to face legal actions for false complaints.

The DMK is undergoing a bad patch as union minister MK Alagiri himself faces arrest for assaulting a tehsildar in his home turf of Madurai.

The union minister who is also the elder son of Karunanidhi has been chargesheeted by Madurai police and is on the run from law.