The Madras High Court on Monday (June 15, 2026) deferred its orders on a plea to condone a delay of 839 days in preferring a third party criminal revision petition against the acquittal of former DMK Minister P. Geetha Jeevan and her family members from a 2002 disproportionate assets case to the tune of ₹2.31 crore.
Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan took the call after hearing arguments advanced by the counsel for revision petitioner S. Shanmugasundaram, an advocate from Thoothukudi, and others. The petitioner claimed to have preferred the third party revision since the prosecution did not appeal against the 2022 order of acquittal.
The court was told that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) had registered a case in March 2002 primarily against Ms. Jeevan’s father N. Periasamy for having allegedly amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income between 1996 and 2001.
Periasamy (since dead) had served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Thoothukudi constituency during the check period and his daughter Ms. Jeevan was the chairperson of Thoothukudi District Panchayat Council between October 25, 1996 and October 24, 2001.
According to the prosecution, Periasamy had acquired pecuniary resources and properties far beyond his known sources of income in his name and also that of his wife P. Ebenesarammal; sons N.P. Raja and N.P. Jegan, daughter Ms. Jeevan and son-in-law P. Jeevan Jacob Rajendran.
The police quantified the disproportionate assets acquired by the family members between May 13, 1996 and March 31, 2001 to be ₹2.31 crore and laid a charge sheet against them in 2003 under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 as well as the Indian Penal Code.
However, the trial got prolonged for years together and culminated in an order of acquittal passed by the Thoothukudi Principal District Court only on December 14, 2022. Since Periasamy had died in May 2017, the charges levelled against him stood abated.
The trial judge acquitted the rest of the five accused after observing that they had satisfactorily accounted for the properties and other resources that stood in their names and had also proved independent sources of income for acquiring those properties.
“This court is of the view that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubts the charges against A2 to A6... that they had intentionally aided the public servant, deceased A1, by holding properties or pecuniary resources in their names on behalf of A1 which were disproportionate to the known source of income of A1,” the trial court verdict read.
Explaining the reason for having challenged the judgement after a long delay of 839 days, the petitioner said, he was initially waiting for the DVAC to file an appeal against the acquittal. However, he found that the agency did not prefer any appeal when Ms. Jeevan was the Minister for Social Welfare and Women Empowerment in the DMK’s cabinet.
Thereafter, the petitioner made an application before the trial court seeking a certified copies of the judgement of acquittal and other documents, but the court refused to give him the copies. So, he had to approach the High Court and Justice G. Jayachandran had on June 13, 2024 directed the tiral court to furnish the certified copies.
Stating that a lot of time got consumed in obtaining the certified copies since he was a third party to the case, the petitioner said that he was finally able to file the revision, along with the condone delay petition, before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court only on July 3, 2025.
The petitions were transferred to the principal seat of the High Court in Chennai since they were related to a case involving a former legislator.
Published - June 15, 2026 08:55 pm IST
Source: The Hindu - India News
