CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 16: A special court here on Wednesday found former Tamil Nadu Health Secretary K Inbasagaran, IAS, guilty of the corruption charges levelled against him and sentenced him to one year rigorous imprisonment (RI).Special Judge S Sambandam held that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption had proved beyond reasonable doubt its case against the suspended IAS officer, who had been charged with accumulating unaccounted wealth of over Rs 54 lakh between April 1978 and September 1993. The judge, however, suspended implementation of the sentence till March 15, on payment of Rs 10,000, to enable Inbasagaran to appeal against the conviction order in a higher court.Later talking to reporters, Inbasagaran said that the case filed against him was `motivated'. He said he would move the High Court against the conviction order. Also imposing a fine of Rs 5,000 on the officer, who had occupied various others posts including Joint Secretary, Food and Director of Power Department at the Centre, the Judge held that Inbasagaran had failed to account for the properties possessed by him.Inbasagaran's conviction is the fourth by the special courts, set up by the DMK Government to try corruption cases against former chief minister Jayalalitha, some of her ministerial colleagues and Government officials. Inbasagaran is the second IAS officer to be convicted by a special court after H M Pandey, a co-accused in the `Pleasant Stay Hotel' case. On February 2, Jayalalitha had been convicted in the hotel case, for misuse of office, and sentenced to one year RI.According to the prosecution case, Inbasagaran could not account for the wealth in his possession on September 14, 1993, which included Rs 30 lakh in cash, seven gold biscuits with foreign markings, 1,118 US Dollars, two fixed deposits and documents relating to immoveable properties which were seized by the Income Tax Department during raids on the residence of the IAS officer on September 13 and 14, 1993. He was found guilty under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.According to the chargesheet, the assets of Inbasagaran which in April 1978 was nearly Rs 38,000 had swelled to nearly Rs 63 lakh, including his legitimate savings of about Rs 8.10 lakh by September 1993. The chargesheet was filed on November 11, 1997 and during the trial which commenced on December 9, 1998, over 180 documents and 53 witnesses were examined.
