Chennai: Madras high court on Tuesday dismissed a plea moved by former DMK minister M R K Panneerselvam seeking to discharge him from a corruption case registered in 2011 by DVAC for alleged amassment of assets to the tune of ₹3.01 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Panneerselvam accumulated disproportionate wealth while serving as the minister for backward classes and welfare from 1996 to 2001 and later as the minister for health and family welfare from 2006 to 2011, according to the prosecution. In 2016, the special judge in Cuddalore discharged the minister from the case. In April 2025, the high court set aside the discharge and directed the special court to frame charges and proceed with the trial on a day-to-day basis.
It was argued that when the court took cognisance in 2025, Panneerselvam was a cabinet minister and, therefore, the governor’s sanction had to be obtained. However, the state filed a revision plea against this order. the high court noted that there was prima facie material to proceed against the minister and his family and that the findings of the trial court were perverse and had to be interfered with While setting aside the discharge. The court then remanded the matter back to the trial court.