A special court for MPs/MLAs on Wednesday convicted K.N. Ramachandran, former AIADMK MP from Sriperumbudur, in a criminal case filed by the CBI and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment.
While Ramachandran, the chairman and managing trustee of M/s Kannamal Eductional Trust, is the third accused in the case, R. Thiagarajan, senior regional manager, Central Bank of India, Chennai, is the first accused and R. Rajasekaran, chairman, M/s Sakthi Mariamman Engineering College, the second accused.
In 2013, Ramachandran and his son Rajasekaran, by colluding with Thiagarajan, borrowed ₹17.28 crore for the construction of a new college campus. However, the money was spent for other purposes.
As the loan’s repayment was irregular, the bank conducted an inquiry and found that the manager had sanctioned a loan beyond permissible limits.
A case was registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI, Chennai and, after investigation, a charge-sheet was filed in the case. On completion of trial, all three accused were convicted by judge D. Lingeshwaran of the special court for cases against MPs and MLAs
While Thiagarajan was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years and ordered to pay a fine of ₹13.10 lakh, Rajasekaran and Ramachandran were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years each and ordered to pay a fine of ₹1.11 crore each. The fourth accused, M/s Kannamal Educational Trust, was ordered to pay a fine of ₹15.20 crore.
