Madras High Court Sets Aside Conviction Of Former MP TM Selvaganapathy In Cremation Shed Scam

Justice G Jayachandran acquitted Selvaganapathy and set aside the sentence of two years imprisonment imposed by a special court for CBI cases in 2014. Selvaganapathy had lost his Rajya Sabha membership following the conviction.

The CBI court had sentenced Mr. Selvaganapathy, the then Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration; J.T. Acharyulu, former Secretary, Rural Development; M. Sathyamurthy, former Director, Rural Development; M. Krishnamurthy, retired project officer; and T. Bharathi to two-year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs. 25,000 on each of them.

The Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI had registered the case in 1997 alleging that Selvaganapathy along with others had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1995 and 1996 and caused pecuniary loss to the Government in the construction/erection of cremation sheds under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY).

As per the CBI, Selvaganapathy had held a high level meeting in which a decision was taken to construct 100 cremation sheds for Adi Dravidars in Nagapattinam. However, instead of awarding the contract to Cooperative Societies, the work was entrusted to private companies. The PwD officials, who inspected the sheds later observed that the work was not properly executed following which CBI enquiry was initiated.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 369

Case Title: T M Selvaganapathy and Others v State

Case No: CRL A 233/2014