Lawyer moves HC against acquittal of former DMK minister Geetha Jeevan

Chennai: Madras high court has reserved its orders on a plea seeking to condone the delay of 839 days in filing a third-party appeal 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.Explaining the delay, the petitioner, S Shanmugasundaram, an advocate, said he was waiting for DVAC to file an appeal against the 2022 acquittal. He has preferred an appeal now as DVAC failed to file any appeal when she was a minister. Recording the submission, Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan reserved his orders on the petition seeking condonation of the delay in filing the appeal.In Dec 2022, the Tuticorin district principal and sessions court acquitted Geetha Jeevan, her brother and then Tuticorin mayor N Jegan Periyasamy, and three other members of her family in a disproportionate assets case filed against them in 2001.The case was filed against six people — former Tuticorin MLA and DMK district secretary N Periyasamy, his wife Ebenezer, daughter Geetha Jeevan and her husband Jeevan Jacob, and Periyasamy’s sons N P Jegan and N P Raja — in 2001 by AIADMK govt on charges of amassing wealth to the tune of ₹2.31 crore during DMK’s govt between 1996 and 2001 disproportionate to their known sources of income.Periyasamy was an MLA, and Geetha Jeevan was a Tuticorin district panchayat chairperson during that period. DVAC registered the FIR in 2001 and filed a charge sheet in 2003.