CHENNAI : A retired drug controller and his wife, also a retired government official, were sentenced to two years in jail on charges of amassing wealth as much as 90 per cent above their known sources of income. A CBI special court delivered the verdict on Monday, bringing the trial to an end 12 years after the CBI arrested the couple on charges of corruption.
According to the prosecution, R Arivudainambi (64) worked as the deputy drug controller in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, for over a decade. During this period, he was required to deal with different types of proposals of different pharmaceutical companies of the country, relating to new drugs in the market, including manufacturing of new drugs, import of raw material, etc.
He was also required to accord approval to such proposals submitted by the pharmaceutical companies and was allegedly taking bribe from these companies.
Along with R Arivudainambi, his wife Sathayvani (62), who was working in the State government at the secretariat, was also arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act, by the CBI in 2007. She is alleged to have helped her husband in amassing the ill-gotten wealth.The CBI filed a case under section 13 (2) Prevention of Corruption Act, on charges of ‘criminal misconduct’. The CBI, after investigations, accused the couple of amassing wealth 90 percent above their known sources of income and the case was tried in the CBI special court.
The trial court judge, S Muruganantham, in the verdict on Monday said that the prosecution has proved the charges against the couple beyond doubt. The couple were sentenced to two year of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of `1 lakh each. After the court pronounced the verdict on Sunday, the couple were released
on bail to enable them to appeal against it.
1 more held for financial fraud Chennai: the bank fraud wing of Chennai police CCB on Sunday arrested one more suspect named P Manikandan, taking the total number of arrests to 13 in a case related to the gang that was running fake BPOs offering insurance and loan services in the city. The police made the initial arrest in the second week of February.
Manikandan (31), of KK Nagar, was allegedly running a company named InfoeZee Pvt Ltd which was receiving money from a lot of customers in the guise of providing loans and insurance and transferring the same to main suspect Gopikrishnan after taking 20 per cent commission. So far, 13 people, including Gopikrishnan, who was hiding in Sri Lanka, have been arrested. After receiving the money through Infoezee Pvt Ltd, registered with a particular payment bank/digital wallet, the money was transferred to various accounts of Fortune Enterprises, Ultra Trendz Enterprises, Bhaarath Business Centre, Hariharan Management, Tritech Associates, Tech Process Pvt Ltd, and Feather lite Tech, which all belonged to the main suspect, police sources said.