Kumbakonam school fire tragedy case: CB-CID probe against lawyer for funds misappropriation

The CB-CID shall register a case forthwith, conduct enquiry and proceed further in accordance with law against the lawyer and all others who illegally transferred the money.

Published: 28th April 2018 02:10 AM | Last Updated: 28th April 2018 04:52 AM | A+A A-

By Siva Sekaran

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the CB-CID to investigate the case relating to misappropriation of Rs 2 crore by advocate S Tamilarasan in connection with the Kumbakonam school fire tragedy case.The Bench of Justices R Mahadevan and V Parthiban gave the direction while passing interim orders on a contempt application seeking to punish the advocate for the fraud committed by him against his clients, who are the parents of the victims.

The CB-CID shall register a case forthwith, conduct enquiry and proceed further in accordance with law against the lawyer and all others who illegally transferred the money from the accounts of the victims.

In the major fire accident on July 16, 2004, at Sri Krishna School in Kumbakonam, 94 students were charred to death and 18 others sustained burns. According to one of the petitioners U Marimuthu of Asoor in Kumbakonam, whose son Mohan Kumar died in the incident, after a great deal of court proceedings and negotiations, the government awarded a compensation starting from Rs 5 lakh each along with interest to the parents of the victims. The government deposited Rs 8.01 lakh in his account with the City Union Bank on December 21, 2016.

Even before the amount was deposited in his account, Tamilarasan came to Kumbakonam and summoned the parents and obtained two undated cheques and signed blank papers from each of the claimants. Thereafter, to Marimuthu’s shock, he received a message from the bank on December 22, 2016, saying that Rs 2.30 lakh was deducted from his account.

He rushed to the bank and found to his dismay that the counsel had misused the blank cheques and diverted the money to the accounts in his name and those in the names of his close relatives. It came to light thereafter that more than Rs 2 crore was transferred by misusing the said blank cheques.When the matter was taken up for consideration, the counsel for the claimants produced documents relating to the commission of the crime.