KANNIYAKUMARI: After 17 years of trial in a case registered by the Department of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), the Nagercoil Chief Judicial Magistrate court convicted the then-Kanniyakumari District Adi Dravidar Welfare Officer and vice president of Kovilpatti Carpentry and Blacksmithy Workers Co-Operative Cottage for causing loss to the state government by supplying neem tree furniture on the pretext of supplying teak wood furniture.
Based on the records of malpractice of supplying fake teak furniture to Adi Dravidar Welfare High School, Kalingarajapuram, Kanyakumari district during 2005-2006, the DVAC sleuths registered a case against the district Adi Dravidar Welfare Officer D Jothindra Geeth Prakash, and Kovilpatti Carpentry and Blacksmithy Workers Co-Operative Cottage, Industrial Society Ltd, Pudukottai, vice president S P Ganesan on June 18, 2006.
The investigation revealed that, on the pretext of selling teakwood furniture, the two had criminally conspired to supply 30 wooden duel desks, five single-drawer wooden tables, and five wooden chairs made of neem and plywood, and forged documents for selling worth Rs 2,34,7265, causing a loss of Rs 90,065 to the state government.
The DVAC filed a chargesheet against the two on April 2, 2014. Pronouncing the judgement on Thursday, Nagercoil Chief Judicial Magistrate cum Special Judge R.Gokulakrishnan convicted both the accused Jothindra Geeth Prakash and Ganesan and sentenced them to one year of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 5,000.
It is pertinent to note that Jothindra Geeth Prakash was previously convicted by the Nagercoil court to undergo three years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1 lakh in another case registered by the DVAC, in which he accepted a bribe of Rs 3,000 from an Adi Dravidar Hostel cook for providing a transfer order.