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Journalism of Courage
When his name emerged in the marksheet scam,Dr Krishnamurthy made the transition from medical doctor and businessman to a criminal on the run,along with his son Kiruba Sridhar,a medical student at a private college in Puducherry.
Had he cleared his exams,Kiruba would have been the third generation medical professional from Dr Krishnamurthys family. Dr Krishnamurthys father,Dr Chinnappan,had come to Perambalur district from his native Coimbatore to set up his clinic nearly two decades ago. Functioning in a narrow crossroad near Perambalur,his clinic gradually made a name for itself. In those times,he was one of the most popular doctors in the area, said Arasu,a local resident. Chinnappans son Dr Krishnamurthy then took over the clinic. He ran the clinic from the ground floor while he and his family wife Dr Meerakumari,elder son Kiruba and second son Vinod stayed on the first floor. Incidentally,the clinic on Post Office Road is straight opposite to Union IT and Telecom Minister A Rajas former office when he was the MP representing Perambalur. While there is no evidence to prove that it was Raja who is the minister who tried to influence a Madras High Court judge in the scam case to give anticipatory bail to Krishnamurthy and Kiruba,the DMK leaders name had been doing the rounds with AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa naming him. While the Chief Justice has now said that no minister had called the judge,Krishnamurthys image remains tarnished.
The clinic is now locked up and neighbours deny knowing anything about the family. Dr Krishnamurthys interest in medicine waned after his other business interests grew.
After he started all the new ventures,he rarely visited the clinic,maybe once in a month or two. He also shifted from Perambalur two years ago, said a local resident. Neighbours believe he moved to Coimbatore where many of his businesses are based.
According to sources,Krishnamurthys first enterprise was sand quarrying,a tightly controlled business in Tamil Nadu. Soon the business grew to include granite quarrying,real estate,a finance and investment company,a vehicle showroom and petrol bunks.
After keeping a low profile for years,the doctor came to the nations attention when the allegations emerged. The CBI has registered a case against several persons,including the father-son duo,for tampering with answer papers and marksheets to inflate marks in medical and engineering exams.
Meanwhile,rumours are surfacing about Krishnamurthys business empire. One has it that about 130 acres of land was bought by those close to him at Padaloor to set up an IT park,while another says the up to 700 acres of land were bought in the region.
Locals here believe that Krishnamurthy and his son might have escaped to Malaysia where he allegedly has business interests though investigators believe the pair is in North India.
