CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday quashed an ECIR registered by the Enforcement Directorate against Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy in connection with an alleged housing plot allotment scam.
The allegation against Periyasamy was that while serving as the Housing Minister in the 2006-11 DMK regime, he had allotted housing plots to ineligible people, including then senior IPS officer Jaffar Sait and his wife, and thereby caused loss to the government and attained wrongful gain.
Based on the FIR registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Chennai, the ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Periyasamy and others, as the alleged offences were scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Arguing that the allotment was made legally and that a similar criminal case against the co-accused was quashed, Periyasamy had filed a quash petition before the Madras High Court. After noting that the charges against the co-accused were quashed and that there was no element of criminal conspiracy or misconduct or financial loss to the government, the court allowed the quash petition and quashed the cases against him in April 2025.
Meanwhile, the co-accused filed petitions challenging the ECIR filed by the ED, and the same were allowed by the court. Then Periyasamy approached the court to quash the ECIR that was pending against him.
When the case came for hearing, the bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan quashed the ECIR after noting that the predicate offence, based on which the ECIR was registered by the ED, was already quashed by the court.