Thu Apr 03 15:18:01 UTC 2025: ## Madurai Court Sentences Five to Five Years for Fraudulent Property Sale
**Madurai, April 3, 2025** – A Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has sentenced five individuals, including a former Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) Recovery Officer and a former Upper Division Clerk, to five years imprisonment for fraud. The court overturned a 2016 acquittal by a lower court.
The accused were found guilty of conspiring to sell a judgment debtor’s property at a significantly reduced price during a clandestine auction, benefiting the wife of the Upper Division Clerk at the expense of the bank and the debtor. The prosecution, led by the CBI (ACB), Chennai, successfully argued that the accused caused a financial loss to the bank and the debtor through their fraudulent actions.
Justice K.K. Ramakrishnan, in his judgment, described corruption as a “cancer” that pervades various departments. He criticized the trial court for prioritizing irrelevant facts while ignoring substantial evidence presented by the prosecution. The court deemed the prosecution’s case proven beyond reasonable doubt.
While acknowledging mitigating factors such as age and health conditions of the accused, the judge imposed a five-year prison sentence and a ₹6 lakh fine on each of the five individuals. The sentence, however, remains suspended for three weeks following a Supreme Court order. The accused included the former Recovery Officer, S. Kasimayan; the former Upper Division Clerk, R. Selvaraj; Selvaraj’s wife, R. Anitha; Kasimayan’s relative, R. Rajesh Kannan; and the then Branch Manager of Dhanalakshmi Bank, N. Vakeeswaran.
First Piper 