DMK's Rajya Sabha member TM Selvaganapathy Convicted by CBI Court in the Cremation Shed Scam Thursday April 17,2014

  DMK's Rajya Sabha member TM Selvaganapathy is all set to lose his post, with a CBI court on Thursday April 17,2014 convicting him in the infamous creation shed scam case and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for two years. Four others, including two IAS officers, too received similar sentence.  
IX additional sessions judge S Malathi who is also the special judge for CBI cases, convicted Selvaganapathy and ordered him to remain in jail for two years along with a fine of Rs 25,000. Apart from Selvaganapathy, two IAS officers — JT Acharyulu, the then special commissioner rural development and M Sathiamoorthy, director of rural development — were cited as accused. Of the three other officers cited as accused, one died during trial.

The special judge said, "Prosecution adduced reliable and satisfactory evidence beyond reasonable doubt," and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each. The CBI had invoked provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. According to CBI, in 1995-96 under the Jawahar Rojgar Yojana scheme, a high level meeting was held by Selvaganapathy in which it was decided to construct 100 cremation sheds for Adi Dravidars in Nagapattinam. While the Centre would contribute 80%, the state would contribute 20% as its share.

The contract was awarded to Karungulam Carpentary and Blacksmith Worker Industrial Society in Nagapattinam and Rs 30 lakh was distributed. Later, inspection revealed that the sheds were of substandard quality and had no utility value.

The CBI alleged that the five accused had caused Rs 24 lakh loss to the government   Selvaganapathy was local administration minister in the Jayalalithaa cabinet in 1995 when the cremation shed scam came to light, following a report from IAS officer Umashankar. He later joined the DMK, and is at present member of the Rajya Sabha. Now that he has been convicted, he stands to lose the post immediately after the order is conveyed to the speaker.

The case pertains to corruption and misappropriation of funds allocated under the Jawahar Rojgar Yojana and the plan to build 100 cremation sheds in Nagapattinam district in 1995. The former AIADMK Minister and sitting DMK MP, T. M. Selvaganapathy, submitted his resignation from the Rajya Sabha on Friday April 18,2014, a day after a special CBI court in Chennai convicted him in the cremation shed scam.