A series of court setbacks, corruption investigations and fresh criminal cases has put several former DMK Ministers under renewed legal scrutiny in Tamil Nadu, with proceedings involving election petitions, disproportionate assets, alleged illegal sand excavation, tender manipulation, alleged collection of illegal gratification and a multi-crore cheating case. The developments have affected former Ministers including KR Periakaruppan, MRK Panneerselvam, K Ponmudi, EV Velu, K.N. Nehru and V Senthil Balaji, with cases at various stages before the Madras High Court, DVAC and police authorities.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan of the Madras High Court, on September 28, dismissed an election petition filed by former DMK Minister and candidate KR Periakaruppan challenging the victory of TVK MLA R Seenivasa Sethupathy by a one-vote margin in the Tiruppattur constituency in Sivaganga district. The DMK candidate got 83,364 votes, while the TVK rival secured 83,365 votes and was declared elected by a margin of one vote.
In another development, the Madras High Court dismissed a second discharge petition filed by DMK leader and former Minister MRK Panneerselvam, his wife P Senthamizhselvi, and son P Kathiravan in a Rs. 3 crore disproportionate assets case registered by the DVAC. The agency had registered a disproportionate assets case in 2011, alleging that Panneerselvam and his family members had failed to satisfactorily account for assets worth Rs. 3.01 crore acquired during the check period between 2006 and 2011, when he served as Health Minister.
Panneerselvam, Senthamizhselvi, and Kathiravan filed a discharge petition in 2013, which the Cuddalore Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) allowed in 2016. However, the DVAC filed a revision petition challenging it. In 2025, Justice P Velmurugan allowed the revision petition, set aside the CJM’s order, and revived the criminal proceedings. The three accused filed a second discharge petition before the Sessions Court, which dismissed the plea.
Thereafter, they approached the Madras High Court challenging the Cuddalore Principal District and Sessions Court’s June 30 order refusing to discharge them from the case.
They also sought a stay on the trial proceedings and exemption from personal appearance before the trial court. However, on September 22, Justice V Lakshminarayanan dismissed the discharge petition.
#MadrasHighCourt REJECTS an election petition filed by #DMK's Periakaruppan challenging the victory of #TVK's Seenivasa Sethupathy by one vote in Thiruppattur constituency.
Court allows Sethupathy's application to reject the election petition pic.twitter.com/EUP8t1RAs2
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 28, 2026
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government has decided to appeal against the acquittal of former DMK Minister K Ponmudi in a Rs. 28.37 crore red sand quarrying case. The ED has officially informed the Madras High Court that the state government has written to it expressing its firm intent to prefer an appeal. The legal challenge aims to overturn the prior acquittal of Ponmudy, his son Gowtham Sigamani, and five other individuals in the case.
In August last year, after III Metropolitan Magistrate C Sundrapandian issued a non-bailable warrant, Ponmudi appeared before the court in a hate speech case comparing Saiva and Vaishnava spiritual marks with a commercial sex worker. He reportedly tendered an unconditional apology to the petitioner.
On March 11, 2024, a bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oha and Ujjal Bhuyan stayed the conviction and suspended the three-year prison sentence of Ponmudi in a DA case.
The DVAC has booked former DMK Minister EV Velu, his son EV Kumaran, several government officials and contractors for illegally excavating sand and other material from a lake in Thiruvannamalai, causing an estimated loss of Rs. 8.2 crore to the exchequer.
https://x.com/omjasvinMD/status/2104108832997990667?s=20
In the FIR registered after a complaint from anti-corruption body Arappor Iyakkam, it says there was a ‘prima facie of criminal conspiracy, including criminal misconduct by public servants’. The DVAC, Thiruvannamalai detachment unit, said in the FIR that a factual verification was conducted based on the complaint, which alleged that Velu abused his official position to facilitate the illegal excavation and removal of lake-bed material from Malappambadi Lake. The complainant alleged that around 12 acres of the lake were excavated to depths of 10 to 23 feet between November and December 2025.
According to the FIR, 45.72 lakh cubic feet of sand was removed from the lake and sent to level a 124-acre property belonging to Kumaran for the DMK’s northern regional conference held in December 2025. Kumaran did not get any permission from the Revenue, Corporation, Geology and Mining departments. The officials failed to discharge their statutory duties, thereby facilitating the illegal removal of sand.
On June 25, 2026, the DVAC carried out searches at 13 locations linked to him, including his residence in Alwarpet, Chennai, amid tight police security, acting on the complaint from NGO Arappor Iyakkam that alleged corruption in the construction of roads across the State.
The FIR names Velu, 10 government officials, unknown officials of the Highways Department, and private individuals.
The NGO alleged that crores of rupees had been paid to contractors in various divisions of the State Highways Department in March 2022 for works which had not been executed until then.
Velu, who served as Food Minister between 2006 and 2011 as part of the DMK government, had earlier faced a disproportionate assets case registered by the DVAC in March 2012 under the AIADMK regime, alleging that he amassed assets worth ₹26.30 lakh beyond known sources of income.
In June 2015, the Tiruvannamalai Chief Judicial Magistrate Court discharged Velu and his wife, Jeeva Velu, from the case, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.
A subsequent appeal filed by the DVAC was later dismissed by the Supreme Court of India in 2018. The Income Tax Department in November 2023 conducted multiple location searches at premises linked to Velu.
Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths searched four premises in Kallakurichi district on September 26 and seized 30 documents, including bank records, as part of a probe into a multi-crore cheating case involving the alleged illegal collection of money from private school managements on promises of approvals and renewals during the previous DMK government. Later, BT Arasakumar, the main accused detained under the Goondas Act, was quashed by the High Court on September 28.
Earlier this month, the CCB team conducted searches at the Tiruchi residence of former Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in connection with this case. The CCB had earlier added Poyyamozhi as an accused in the case concerning alleged collection of money from private schools for government approvals.
Besides, the DVAC filed an FIR against another senior DMK Minister, K.N. Nehru, his brothers, and several others in connection with alleged manipulation of government tenders under the Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply Department, and the collection of illegal gratification, disguised as “party fund”.
The FIR alleges a wrongful gain of Rs 1,020 crore and states that illegal gratification was collected at 7.5%-10% of the contract value. The agency conducted raids in over 30 locations in the first week of September 2026. It is a follow-up case after the ED’s raids.
Former DMK Minister and Coimbatore South MLA V Senthil Balaji has come under police scanner after the Chennai police named him and his brother V Ashok Kumar in connection with an alleged Rs 35-crore bribery and intimidation bid targeting Uthangarai MLA N Ilaiyaraja of the ruling TVK. He is also facing trial in a multi-crore cash-for-jobs scam and money laundering case tied to his tenure as Transport Minister from 2011 to 2015.
