Perfect game between accused and prosecution: Madras High Court on discharge of DMK ministers in disproportionate assets cases

The Madras High Court on Wednesday initiated suo motu revision of a special court order which discharged two Tamil Nadu ministers in disproportionate assets cases..Noting that both the accused and prosecution played a "perfect game," Justice N Anand Venkatesh issued notice to State Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran and Minister for Human Resource Management Thangam Thenarasu.The two Ministers were discharged from disproportionate asset cases against them in July 2023 and December 2022 respectively..While instructing Ramachandran and Thenarasu to file replies by September 20, Justice Venkatesh remarked that there appeared to be a significant issue with regard to how special courts were managing these cases."William Shakespeare said that something is rotten in the State of Denmark. I'll say that something is wrong with the special court. A perfect game was played between the accused and the prosecution. Case was filed, documents were submitted and then a discharge petition was filed. Then, curiously, officer who wrote the counter against the discharge petition itself files a memo before the court saying that I have to do further investigation based on some points raised by the accused person in their discharge petition. This is very curious," Justice Venkatesh said..The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had initially registered a case against Ramachandran, his wife and a friend of the Minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) in December 20, 2011. The DVAC claimed that they were in possession of ₹44.59 lakh disproportionate to their known sources of income during the period between April 1, 2006, and March 31, 2010.In July this year, Sessions Judge V Thilaham accepted a closure report filed by the DVAC and accepted the agency's sudden change of heart concluding that the Minister’s family had excess savings of ₹1.49 lakh and not disproportionate assets worth ₹44.59 lakh. The DVAC had registered the case against Thennarasu and his wife T Manimegalai on February 14, 2012. A charge sheet was filed claiming that the couple possessed ₹74.58 lakh disproportionate to their known sources of income between May 15, 2006, and March 31, 2010.On December 12, 2022, Principal Sessions Judge M Christopher accepted the closure report filed by the DVAC and discharged Thennarasu and his wife from the case..Today, Justice Venkatesh asked whether investigation officers and special courts adhered to the same procedure for all cases or whether a different standard was adopted for cases involving State ministers."Will you do it to everyone like that? The judiciary has unfortunately become part of this unholy alliance. The procedure is absolutely wrong. The person aggrieved here is the criminal justice system of the country. We, as a constitutional court, cannot let this happen. I don't have anything against any person. But I'll say that power corrupts everyone. There is a pattern about what is happening and this Court has to step in. The normal person should know that this system is not for the powerful or for people with connection and money, but for the layman," the Court said..Justice Venkatesh further said that the approach of the special court was “ex-facie illegal” and that it had no power to discharge the accused without assigning any reason. He added that the court had failed to give an independent reasoning in the order of discharge and was “literally playing the role of lady justice by blindfolding itself.”.While the Court said that the accused, the prosecution and the special court appear to have acted in tandem, Tamil Nadu Advocate General R Shumughasundaram, however, urged the Court not to stigmatize DVAC officers without hearing them first..[Read Orders]