Former AIADMK Minister And Her Husband Have Been Sentenced To Five Years In Prison

Indira Kumari was a minister in Jayalalithaa's cabinet from 1991 to 1996 until joining the DMK in 2006. A special court found former Social Welfare Minister R. Indira Kumari and her husband A. Babu guilty of stealing Rs15.45 lakh from a government department and depositing the money in two trusts run by him under the guise of running schools for disabled children and sentenced them to five years in prison.

Former Director of Rehabilitation for the Disabled, P. Shanmugam, has been sentenced to three years in prison. Each of them was also fined Rs10,000 by the court. Indira Kumari's personal assistant, R. Venkatakrishnan, was found not guilty. Between 1991 and 1996, Indira Kumari was the Minister of Social Welfare in Jayalalithaa's AIADMK cabinet. She joined the DMK in 2006 and has served as the literary wing's State Secretary.

The case was opened 15 years ago after the then-Social Welfare Secretary filed a complaint with the Crime Branch-CID. Indira Kumari and four other former Social Welfare Secretary R. Kirubakaran, Shanmugam, Babu, and Venkatakrishnan were charged by the CB-CID on February 4, 2004. According to the charge sheet, the accused plotted a criminal conspiracy and committed a criminal breach of trust between 1992 and 1996 under the guise of funding and administering schools for disabled children in Vellore and Chennai.

They engaged in criminal misconduct as public workers by obtaining financial benefit for the two trusts — Mercy Mother India Charitable Trust and Bharani Swathi Educational Trust — in which Babu was the managing trustee through illegal means and abuse of official position. They were all charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust by a public servant under Sections 120 B and 409 of the Indian Penal Code, as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988. Since Kirubakaran's death during the trial, the charge against him had faded.

The case was transferred to the Additional Special Court for the Trial of Cases Concerning Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly in 2019. The prosecution called over 60 witnesses, including the Chief Secretary, and presented over 100 pieces of documentary evidence. Indira Kumari, Babu, and Shanmugam were found guilty of the charges against them by special court judge N. Alicia. Because the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, Venkatakrishnan was acquitted.

Meanwhile, the ruling had Indira Kumari noticeably disturbed. She was sitting on a chair near the courthouse while the warrant procedure was underway. She was ready to be escorted to prison and was removing her jewelry. She swooned and complained of trouble breathing. She was rushed to a private hospital in an ambulance before being transferred to the Stanley Medical College Hospital, which is run by the government.