S. Kasimayan, a former Recovery Officer of Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT), has moved the Madras High Court Bench here to get himself discharged from a case registered by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of undervaluing a few immovable properties in collusion with a bank manager and auction purchasers.
According to the petitioner, he was appointed as Assistant Civilian Staff in the Ministry of Defence on March 16, 1998 through the Union Public Service Commission. He was posted at the DRT on deputation on May 30, 2007 and worked there until being repatriated to his parent department on August 27, 2010 due to the criminal case registered by the CBI.
Thereafter, he was suspended from service since August 24, 2011 as the CBI had filed a charge sheet against him before a Special Court for trying CBI cases here. The charges were under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, apart from provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the prosecution, Mr. Kasimayan was entrusted with the responsibility of executing a recovery certificate issued by a DRT at Mumbai, with respect to loans borrowed from Chembur branch of Dhanalakshmi Bank in Mumbai, as some of the properties owned by the borrower were situated in Madurai.
The properties here were auctioned for Rs. 16.6 lakh on April 24, 2008. On March 30, 2009, the CBI registered the case against the petitioner and five others and accused them of conspiring together and adopting a 15-month-old valuation report for the purpose of setting upset price during the auction.
The alleged malpractice had caused a loss of Rs. 4.29 lakh to the owner of the properties.
In July 2011, Mr. Kasimayan approached the Special Court for discharging him from the case on the ground that his actions were covered under judicial immunity. However, the Special Court rejected the plea on November 2 last year and hence the present criminal revision petition.
In parallel, P. Rajesh Kannan of Usilampatti near here, the auction purchaser of the properties, also filed a case to set aside the criminal proceedings. Justice Aruna Jagadeesan has clubbed both the cases and posted them for hearing on March 13.
