The Enforcement Directorate on Monday conducted searches at the premises of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy and his MP son GauthamSigamani in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal sand mining, official sources said. The 72-year-old minister was late night taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to its office at Haddows Road for a detailed session of questioning.

The agency, according to the sources, has seized fixed deposit receipts of Rs 41.9 crore, around Rs 70 lakh cash and some foreign currency, including pounds (worth about Rs 8-10 lakh), from the linked premises of the minister.

Ponmudy is the second minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister M K Stalin to come under the scanner of the federal probe agency after SenthilBalaji. Balaji, who was the Tamil Nadu electricity and prohibition minister, was raided and arrested by the ED in June as part of an alleged cash-for-jobs linked money laundering case investigation pertaining to his earlier stint as the state’s transport minister.