The Madras High Court issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a plea filed by Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan challenging the jurisdiction of the Special Court hearing a ₹1.40 crore disproportionate assets case registered against him.
The Madras High Court issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government regarding a petition from Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan, who is contesting the jurisdiction of the Special Court handling corruption cases linked to a Rs 1.40 crore disproportionate wealth case against him.
Justice V. Lakshminarayanan scheduled further proceedings for October 23.
The case against Duraimurugan, the general secretary of the DMK, and his wife, D. Shanthakumari, was initiated by the DVAC in 2011 during the AIADMK administration.
They are accused of accumulating wealth amounting to Rs 1.40 crore that allegedly exceeds their known sources of income while Duraimurugan served as the PWD Minister from 2006 to 2011 during the DMK’s tenure. In 2017, the CJM court in Vellore cleared them of the charges.
Subsequently, the DVAC filed a revision petition in the Madras High Court to contest this decision. Following a government order, the case was moved to the Special Court in Chennai.
Justice P. Velmurugan approved the revision petition and instructed the trial court to expedite the proceedings.
However, the High Court found the special court’s decision to discharge the Minister to be perverse. It observed that the special court had exceeded the scope of Section 239 of the Cr.P.C.
The High Court further stated that there existed prima facie materials to continue proceedings against the two, and that the grounds they raised formed part of their defence, which could be considered only during the trial.
Case Title: D. Duraimurugan v. State of Tamil Nadu
Case No: WP 36218 of 2025