Chennai: Madras high court has upheld the three-year sentence imposed on four people, including the son of deceased former DMK minister P M Senguttuvan, in a disproportionate assets case.Senguttuvan served as DMK MLA from Marungapuri and as minister for animal husbandry during the DMK govt between 1996 and 2001. Later, he joined AIADMK.The issue pertains to an FIR registered by DVAC against Senguttuvan, his sons S Panneerselvam and Sakthivel, daughter Meenakshi, son-in-law Rajalingam, and his brother’s daughter Valli, alleging that they accumulated assets disproportionate to their known sources of income to the extent of ₹81.42 lakh during his tenure as a minister.The case trial was held at principal sessions court in Trichy. As Senguttuvan and his son-in-law Rajalingam had died, the trial court dropped the charges against them. In Oct 2023, the trial court delivered its order convicting the former minister’s two sons, daughter and brother’s daughter and sentenced each of them to three years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹2,000.Challenging the trial court’s verdict, Panneerselvam and others moved an appeal before the high court. Dismissing the appeals, Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan upheld the three-year sentence imposed on all four appellants.
