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N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai
The 'rice scam' in Tamil Nadu took a new turn with the arrest of the former transport minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator K Ponmudi, in his native Villuppuram late on Tuesday night.
The arrest followed his leading a team of local journalists to a godown of the state Civil Supplies Corporation, to try and disprove the charge of sub-standard rice being procured by the erstwhile DMK government.
Ponmudi's decision reportedly followed a public statement made by two ministers, Subramaniam and A C Shanmugam, in Villuppuram in this regard.
Talking to newspersons, the two ministers reiterated the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government's charge that 'sub-standard' rice worth Rs 125-crore (Rs 1.25 billion) was procured by the earlier DMK government in collusion with traders.
The government had also instituted a probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption into the case. The DVAC is the same department that had filed corruption cases against Chief Minister J Jayalalitha when she was in the opposition.
This is the first arrest of a former DMK minister by the AIADMK dispensation, though it relates only to trespassing and obstruction of government officials.
The police, which had to wait until Ponmudi had completed his speech at a scheduled public meeting, paraded him through the streets to the police station about 2 km away, at midnight.
According to reports, while in the godown, Ponmudi had explained to accompanying media persons about the quality of the rice stocks. He asked them to check the stocks, including those meant for immediate dispatch to ration shops.
The 'rice scam' was brought to the fore by Chief Minister Jayalalitha when she commented on the issue in the inaugural session of the state assembly and followed it up with a display of 'sub-standard rice' with mites to the media at the state secretariat.
DMK chief and former chief minister M Karunanidhi lost no time in refuting Jayalalitha's charge.
He said the rice dubbed as sub-standard and dark by the AIADMK government was of a water-resistant quality grown in the Thanjavur delta.
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