Madras High Court Reserves Order on Appeal Against Geetha Jeevan Acquittal

The Madras High Court in Chennai has reserved its orders on a petition seeking to condone an 839-day delay in filing a third-party appeal against the acquittal of former DMK minister P Geetha Jeevan and her family members. The case pertains to a Rs 2.31 crore disproportionate assets case originally registered over two decades ago.

Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan reserved the decision after recording submissions from the petitioner, S Shanmugasundaram, who is a practicing advocate.

In his petition, Shanmugasundaram explained that the 839-day delay arose because he was waiting for the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to appeal the lower court's decision. He submitted that he chose to file the appeal himself after the DVAC failed to take action during the period when Geetha Jeevan was serving as a minister.

The matter follows a December 2022 ruling by the Tuticorin district principal and sessions court, which acquitted Geetha Jeevan, her brother and then Tuticorin mayor N Jegan Periyasamy, and three other members of her family.

The disproportionate assets case was first registered in 2001 by the then AIADMK government. The prosecution alleged that the family had amassed wealth to the tune of Rs 2.31 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income during the DMK government's tenure between 1996 and 2001.

The original case named six individuals: former Tuticorin MLA and DMK district secretary N Periyasamy, his wife Ebenezer, his daughter Geetha Jeevan, her husband Jeevan Jacob, and Periyasamy’s sons N P Jegan and N P Raja.

During the period of the alleged accumulation of wealth, Periyasamy was a sitting MLA, and Geetha Jeevan was serving as the Tuticorin district panchayat chairperson. Following the initial registration of the FIR in 2001, the DVAC filed its charge sheet in the case in 2003.