ED summons Ponmudi, his son to appear on Tuesday evening in money laundering case
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his son who left the Enforcement Directorate office in the wee hours of Tuesday have been summoned to appear this evening in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sand mining.
After almost an overnight enquiry by the ED officials, both Ponmudi and his MP son Gautham Sigamani were allowed to go home at about 3.30 am today and asked to appear before the ED officials at 4 pm today for further enquiry, DMK spokesperson and advocate A Saravanan said.
He claimed that the Minister "cooperated well" with the central agency and wondered the necessity to put a 72-year-old Minister to an overnight ordeal merely for obtaining a statement. "Nothing would have happened if the ED officials had asked him to appear in the morning for obtain the statement," he said.
The raids were held at the premises of Ponmudy and his son in state capital Chennai and in the minister's stronghold of Villupuram.
The ruling DMK dubbed the action as "political vendetta."
The ED teams were escorted by armed personnel of the CRPF and they made some seizures of documents.
The minister is an MLA from the Tirukkoyilur Assembly seat in Villupuram district while his 49-year old son Sigamani is a Member of Parliament representing the Kallakurichi seat.
"No unaccounted cash or any incriminating documents were seized from the Minister as being claimed," Saravanan told reporters here and sought to know if the central agency has issued any press statement regarding the seizure.
"What's the logic in inquiring into a case 13 years after it was registered. This is nothing but a political vendetta by the BJP government because Ponmudi took on Governor R N Ravi on the new education policy, appointment of vice chancellors and other key issues," he added.
Tamil Nadu BJP vice president Narayanan Tirupathy, however, claimed that the Minister was not arrested as his colleague V Senthil Balaji was, because Ponmudi cooperated.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
