Ishari K. Ganesh. File
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
The Madras High Court on Monday (July 13, 2026) dismissed as withdrawn a writ petition filed by educationist, film producer and actor Ishari K. Ganesh in 2025 to quash an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered against him by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in 2023 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan permitted the petitioner to withdraw his plea with liberty to approach the court as and when an occassion arises. The case was withdrawn after ED Special Public Prosecutor P. Sidharthan reported to the court that the predicate offence against the petitioner was still alive.
The petitioner’s counsel told the court that though the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) had filed a closure report before the trial court in 2024, the latter was yet to accept the report. Therefore, he chose to withdraw the present writ petition with the High Court’s permission to approach the court once again after the closure of the predicate offence.
The issue relates to a suo motu First Information Report (FIR) registered by the DVAC on September 12, 2022 against former AIADMK Minister C. Vijayabaskar (now in TVK), Mr. Ganesh, the Dean of Vels Medical College and Hospital in Tiruvallur district K. Srinivasaraja and four government doctors — R. Balajinathan, T.M. Manohar, J. Sujatha and J.A. Vasanthakumar — under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The FIR was booked on the basis of intelligence collected by DVAC that Mr. Ganesh of Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies (VISTAS), a deemed-to-be university, had in 2020 allegedly bribed the then Health Minister Mr. Vijayabaskar to obtain ‘essentiality certificate’ for the newly-constructed Vels Medical College so that it could begin admitting 150 students in MBBS course.
The four government doctors had been roped in the case because they were part of an inspection team which had reportedly given a false report regarding the status of the private medical institution. Mr. Vijayabaskar was accused of having induced the team of doctors from Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital in Salem to submit a false report.
DVAC claimed that as per the Minimum Requirements for Annual M.B.B.S Admissions Regulations, 2020, the ‘essentiality certificate’ could be issued only if a private hospital had been in existence for a minimum of two years and was capable of being developed into a teaching hospital with a fully functional capacity of 300 beds. It contended that Vels Medical College did not comply with the norms.
Alleging that the private institution was issued an ‘essentiality certificate’ even when its buildings were under construction, the DVAC’s FIR relied upon a June 11, 2020 field verification report of the Assistant Director of Town and Country Planning in Tiruvallur district, prepared for the purpose of building approval, to contend that the buildings were under construction during the said period.
However, after completion of investigation in 2024, the DVAC decided to close the case against Mr. Vijayabaskar, Mr. Ganesh and Dr. Srinivasaraja since it could not collect any incriminating evidence against them. The agency also recommended only departmental action against the four government doctors and decided to drop the criminal proceedings against them.
Published – July 13, 2026 05:08 pm IST
