TN mining baron jailed for bribing official

A special CBI court in Delhi on Tuesday sentenced a sand mining baron from Tamil Nadu, S Vaikundarajan, to three years in jail and a fine of ₹5 lakh for bribing an environment ministry scientist to get approval for a special economic zone (SEZ) in Tamil Nadu in 2016. Neeraj Khatri, a scientist dealing with files related to terms of reference for environmental approvals in the ministry, was sentenced to five years in jail and fine of ₹4 lakh for accepting a bribe of up to ₹7 lakh, the court order said.

An associate of Vaikundarajan, 65, Subbalakshmi, was also convicted for arranging the deal between Khatri and the businessman. A fine of ₹10 lakh was also imposed on Vaikundarajan’s company, VV Minerals, for trying to fraudulently get approval for the terms of reference, which are considered in-principle approval for a project. The three were convicted on Monday and their sentences were pronounced on Tuesday. VV Minerals, the country’s biggest sand mining company, had applied for environmental clearance for an SEZ in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli in 2012.

In its charge-sheet, the CBI said it found that Khatri, then a deputy director (Scientist-C) in the environment ministry, had accepted a demand draft of ₹4.13 lakh dated July 3, 2013 in favour of VIT University (Vellore) to get his son admitted in a B.Tech course there. The money was given at the behest of Vaikundarajan, the CBI said. The CBI also said the air tickets for Khatri and his son from Delhi to Chennai and back were bought by Subbalakshmi

In return, Khatri took charge of the file even though it should have been considered by another division in the environment ministry.

“The matter of environment clearance is a sensitive subject matter…the purpose is to save and protect the environment in order to protect public health...the accused, by indulging in an act of receiving payment (by way of demand draft for admission of his son), allowed this very purpose to be compromised,” CBI special judge Nirja Bhatia said in her order on Tuesday.

On Vaikundarajan, the court said,“He indulged in all sorts of manipulations, which he made in his records including personal records and that of the company of which he is the managing partner and as well outside by showing disregard in handing over the application directly to Neeraj Khatri, by his side-stepping the established procedure,” the court said.