Chennai, Aug 18:
A Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Kallakurichi on Monday convicted and sentenced three accused, including a woman, to a cumulative 64 years jail term on various counts in a Rs 38 lakh Motor Accident Claims fraud case by forging signatures of Sub-Judges and Sheristadar in the court records during 2012 and 2014.
While awarding the jail term, which would run concurrently, the court also imposed a total fine of Rs 64,000 on them.
The Crime Branch-CID Wing of the Tamil Nadu, which probed the case, said that on the directions of the Madras High Court , Principal Subordinate Judge, Kallakurichi, Sureshkumar, conducted an inspection of the records relating to Motor Accident Claims (MCOP) cases disposed of during the years 2012 and 2014.
During the inspection, he noticed that certain signatures of the Sub Judges and the Sheristadar in the court records appeared to be suspicious. On verification of the concerned case records, it was found
that compensation amounts had been disbursed to persons who were unconnected with the respective cases.
Based on the complaint submitted by Judge Surekumar seeking appropriate legal action on the above irregularities, a case was registered on December 18, 2021 in by the CB-CID in Villupuram district under
various sections including 409, 120(B), 418, 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471 and 477-A of the IPC read with Sections 120(B) and 109 of IPC.
During the course of investigation, the prime accused Arivuselvi, who had worked as an Sheristadar Assistant of the same court from 2012 to 2015, was arrested and examined. Investigation revealed that
she had fraudulently reused the case numbers of Motor Accident Claims cases that had already been settled and closed, misappropriated court funds, and transferred the amounts to the bank accounts of
her son Varadharajan, associate Tamilarasan and Senthilkumar.
It was further found that, in order to conceal the fraud, she had tampered with the court records and forged the signatures of the Sub Judges on court cheques.
Further scrutiny of the records relating to the Motor Accident Claims cases handled during the relevant period revealed that, apart from the already detected misappropriation of Rs.28,00,000, an
additional Rs.10,00,000 had also been fraudulently misappropriated. The relevant documents were seized and sent for forensic examination, which confirmed that the disputed signatures and alterations found in the court records were those of Arivuselvi.
In connection with the above offences, all the four accused were arrested and during the investigations, 61 witnesses were examined and 133 documents were collected and marked as exhibits. Upon completion of the investigation, a Final Report (Charge Sheet) was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Kallakurichi on July 23, 2024.
During the trial, the prosecution ensured the prompt examination of all material witnesses and marked the relevant documentary evidence. Owing to the meticulous investigation conducted by the
CB-CID police and the effective presentation of evidence before the Court, the prosecution successfully established the guilt of the first three accused 3 beyond reasonable doubt and the Court convicted them and imposed appropriate sentences in accordance with law.
The first accused Arivuselvi was convicted with imprisonment for 7 years and with fine Rs.5000 u/s 409 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and with fine Rs.5000 u/s 418 IPC, imprisonment for 7 years and with fine Rs.5000 u/s 420 IPC, imprisonment for 2 years and with fine Rs.2000 u/s 465 IPC, imprisonment for 7 years and with fine Rs.5000 u/s 466 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and with fine Rs.2000 u/s 467 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and fine with Rs.2000 u/s 468 IPC, imprisonment for 2 years and with fine Rs.2000 u/s 471 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and with fine Rs.2000 u/s 477 (A) IPC.
She was awarded a total of 37 years of imprisonment and was imposed a fine of Rs.30,000. She would undergo the imprisonment consecutively.
The CB-CID said accused No.2 Varatharajan and No.3 Tamizharasan were convicted with imprisonment for 7 years and fine Rs.5000 u/s 409 r/w 120(B), 109 IPC, imprisonment for 7 years and fine Rs.1000 u/s 418 r/w120(B),109 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and fine RS.5000 u/s 420 r/w 120(B), 109 IPC, imprisonment for 2 years and fine Rs.2000 u/s 465 r/w 120(B),109 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and fine Rs.1000 u/s 467 r/w120(B), 109 IPC, imprisonment for 3 years and fine Rs.1000 u/s 468 r/w120(B),109 IPC, imprisonment for 2 years and fine Rs.2000 u/s 471 r/w 120(B), 109 IPC.
Both the accused were awarded a total of 27 years of imprisonment and were imposed a fine of Rs.17,000 fine each.
However, the fourth accused Senthilkumar was acquitted u/s. 471(1) BNSS as the charges against him were not proved any beyond reasonable doubt.