SASIKALA’S HUSBAND NATARAJAN GETS TWO-YEAR JAIL SENTENCE IN LUXURY CAR IMPORT CASE

M Natarajan, husband of V K Sasikala, the jailed former aide of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, on Friday suffered a setback when the Madras High Court upheld a trial court’s order convicting him to undergo two years imprisonment in a case of duty evasion on the import of a luxury car over 23 years ago.

Only on Thursday, the Madras High Court had upheld the conviction of Sasikala’s relative Bhaskaran, a former RBI employee, and his wife in a disproportionate assets case registered over 20 years ago.

In the instant case, Natarajan had in 1994 imported a Toyota Lexus car along with his nephew V Bhaskaran (not the one convicted on Thursday) and in connivance with two associates Yogesh Balakrishnan and Sujaritha Sundararajan by falsely declaring that the vehicle was a used 1993 model car. This was done to evade customs duty.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate had registered cases against Natarajan and the three accused and prosecuted them. The agencies said the accused had forged an invoice of the car to falsely claim that the vehicle was manufactured in July 1993 and paid lesser customs duty than what would be applicable to a brand new vehicle.

Seven years ago, a special court which tried the case convicted all accused and sentenced them to undergo two years imprisonment. Natarajan moved the HC challenging his conviction. However, finding no merits in his appeal, Justice G Jayachandran dismissed it.

Incidentally, only last month Natarajan had undergone a controversial liver and kidney transplantation.