Summary:
Chennai, June 27 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Monday refused to stay the operation of the FIRs registered against former AIADMK minister S P Velumani, who had allegedly awarded tenders of Greater Chennai Corporation and the Coimbatore Corporation to his benami concerns and thereby caused huge loss to the exchequer and enriched himself.
The first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice N Mala, which rejected the plea, directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) and the petitioners Arappor Iyakkam and R S Bharathi of the DMK, to file their counter affidavits with regard to the main plea of quashing the FIRs.
The main contention of Velumani was that following an order from the High Court, a preliminary inquiry was conducted by Ponni, SP, DVAC, who had found that there was no involvement of the petitioner in the award of the tenders by the two Corporations and held that the allegations were baseless.
Ignoring the said report, the FIRs were registered for offences under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, after the DMK government came to power.
The FIRs were an outcome of political vendetta and abuse of process of law by the State government just to harass him and malign his clean image, he contended.
The matter stands adjourned till July 25.
PTI COR ROH ROH
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