Ponmudy briefs Stalin after ED grilling

CHENNAI: State higher education minister K Ponmudy on Wednesday met and briefed Chief Minister M K Stalin after going through Enforcement Directorate (ED) inquiry in connection with alleged money laundering case.

Ponmudy visited Stalin at the Chief Minister's camp office a day after the conclusion of the two-day grilling by the ED. If party sources with knowledge of the meeting were to be believed, the minister has likely briefed the CM on the nature of the inquiry and the information he divulged to the central agency.

Minister Ponmudy met his boss even as the Enforcement Directorate was engaging his son cum Kallakurichi MP Gautham Sigamani in connection with the PMLA case in which the agency froze deposits worth Rs 41.9 crore and seized cash estimated to be over Rs 87 lakhs.

Incidentally, a third minster fell on the radar of the central agency after the ED filed a plea in a Thoothukudi court that it would assist the state vigilance and anti corruption unit in a disproportionate assets case state fisheries minister Anitha Radhakrishnan.

State minister (without portfolio) Senthil Balaji has already been arrested by the ED in the job for cash scam in the state transport department dating back to his stint as transport minister in jayalalithaa led 2011-16 AIADMK regime.

The ruling DMK inclusive INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) is already going hammer and tongs against the BJP led union government on the issue of misuse of central agencies like Income Tax, ED and CBI against the opposition parties.