CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister Ponmudi returned home in the early hours of Tuesday after about eight hours of interrogation at the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office. The ED has further summoned Ponmudi to its office on Tuesday evening at 4 pm, officials said.
Meanwhile, DMK spokesperson Saravanan alleged that the ED’s long hours of questioning amount to an “utter violation of human rights.”
“It is a 2007 case. They are saying that if he is not interrogated today evidence will be lost. Whom are they trying to joke? It is a fraud played on the human rights of this country. He is a 72-year-old man. He is already under medication. This is an utter violation of human rights,” he said.
Saravanan further claimed that Ponmudi had to bear with the ED for almost 22 hours. “From 7 am yesterday morning untill 3:30, almost 22 hours. Imagine the torture the Minister had undergone,” he said.
The ED on Monday conducted searches at Ponmudi’s residences, officials said. According to the local police, the ED carried out searches at Ponmudi’s homes in Chennai and Viluppuram.
Earlier in June, hours, after minister V Senthil Balaji was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Tamil Nadu minister Ponmudi, termed it a “revengeful act” and claimed that the Centre was doing wrong against states where there is a non-BJP government.
The Enforcement Directorate took Senthil into custody in connection with an alleged money laundering case. (ANI)