TN court sentences former excise officer, wife in 2006 disproportionate assets case
TIRUNELVELI: A special court handling cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act on Tuesday sentenced a retired deputy excise officer to eight years of imprisonment and his wife to four years for demanding Rs 25,000 from the MD of a private company in 2006 and amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.
G Jayabalan (74), former deputy excise officer of Nanguneri taluk, was convicted in both corruption and disproportionate assets (DA) cases, while his wife J Gomathi Jayam was found guilty in the latter case. Special Judge R Subbiah ordered Jayabalan to undergo the two terms concurrently.
According to the prosecution, Jayabalan demanded Rs 25,000 from the managing director of a private firm operating at Thalapathi Samuthiram for revising the firm's tax assessment. Acting on a complaint filed by the MD V Ashok Kumar, the DVAC laid a trap and arrested Jayabalan.
Subsequently, searches were conducted at Jayabalan's residence and officers found the couple had amassed assets disproportionate to his known source of income. For this, a separate case was filed against the couple.
After a prolonged trial, the court on Tuesday sentenced Jayabalan and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 in the bribe case. In the DA case, besides the jail term, Jayabalan was penalised Rs 50,000 and Gomathi Rs 10,000. The couple has been lodged in Palayamkottai Central Prison.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
13 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Pharma dept refuses to name 30 docs penalised for Paris, Monaco trip
NEW DELHI: Despite a Centre-appointed panel under the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) reprimanding AbbVie Healthcare India Pvt Ltd for violating the uniform code for pharmaceutical marketing practice (UCPMP) by sponsoring trips to Monaco and Paris, in France, for 30 doctors worth Rs 1.91 crore, the department has refused to share the names of the 'offending' doctors against whom action was to be initiated. Revealing the names would involve disclosing personal information of individuals and it was not in public interest, the department said, defending its decision. Notably, the refusal to share the names of the doctors by the DoP under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers comes five months after activist Dr K V Babu filed an RTI over the matter. Moreover, the DoP is yet to share the names of the doctors with the National Medical Commission (NMC), which was asked by the Apex Committee for Pharma Marketing Practices to take action against the '30 offending healthcare professionals as per Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002' in its order on December 23, 2024. As per the norms, the doctor's licenses can be suspended if found guilty of violating the code of ethics. In its order, the committee also directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes to evaluate the tax liability of AbbVie Healthcare India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of US-based pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc, for unethical marketing practices, along with the 30 doctors, and to take action in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Hindustan Times
17 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
ED attaches ₹6.15 crore properties in Chhattisgarh liquor scam investigation
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Raipur Zonal Office, has provisionally attached three immovable properties worth ₹6.15 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam case, according to the release. According to the ED, Congress Bhawan, Sukma, residential house at Raipur in the name of Kawasi Lakhma and residential house at Sukma in the name of Harish Kawasi (son of Kawasi Lakhma) have been attached. In a statement, ED initiated an investigation based on the FIR registered by the ACB/EOW Chhattisgarh under various sections of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 in the matter of liquor scam in Chhattisgarh. ED investigation revealed that Kawasi Lakhma, the then Excise Minister of Chhattisgarh, was receiving ₹2 crore per month out of the liquor scam and thereby received POC ₹72 crore in 36 months. As per the official statement, the investigation conducted led to the seizure of crucial pieces of evidence, which demonstrated the utilisation of cash by Kawasi Lakhmain in the construction of properties mentioned above. ₹68 lakh was employed in the construction of Congress Bhawan, Sukma; ₹1.40 crore was utilised in the construction of the house of Harish Lakhma, and ₹2.24 crore was utilised in the construction of his own house at Raipur. Kawasi Lakhma is presently under judicial custody. ED investigation revealed that the corruption in the liquor scam, which ran between 2019 and 2022, resulted in a massive loss to the state exchequer and generation of more than ₹2161 crore worth of POC by commission of predicate offences, as per the release. It is pertinent to mention here that the said attachment continues the previous attachment of immovable properties having a value of nearly ₹205 crore. Further investigation is in progress.
New Indian Express
43 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Gaming authority questions TNPL over surrogate ads of betting apps
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (TNOGA) has sought explanation from the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) regarding advertisement of offshore betting apps at its tournament being held in Coimbatore. The TNPL is an eight-team, franchise-based cricket competition organised by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) where international and popular IPL cricketers from Tamil Nadu like R Ashwin, Sai Kishore, Shahrukh Khan, and T Natarajan are participating. It is telecast on TV and live-streaming apps. A senior TNOGA official said that they had a meeting with the TNPL Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prasanna Shankar at their office in MRC Nagar in Chennai on Wednesday (June 11). This was a few days after TNOGA sought an explanation after receiving multiple grievance emails from residents of Tamil Nadu, pointing out that TNPL teams have enlisted multiple betting apps like dafabet, 1xBet, MELBET, Cricadda, Pin-up Cricket and JSK1 as main sponsors. These apps are promoted through surrogate advertising like dafanews, MELBAT, Cricadda news, and JSK1 news, etc. TNIE had recently reported on the wide prevalence of surrogate advertising in TNPL. According to the official, the surrogate advertising of offshore betting apps by TNPL has been found to be 'prima facie objectionable'. The TNOGA official stated that even surrogate advertisement of online betting apps is not allowed as per Section 8 of the TN Prohibition of Online Gaming and Regulation of Online Games Act, which bans the direct or indirect promotion of online gambling. Section 16(2) allows for a punishment of one year prison term or Rs 5 lakh fine for those violating Section 8.
