Ariyalur teacher’s conviction upheld

The division bench of Justices S Nagamuthu and N Authinathan, however, reduced the 20-year rigorous jail term awarded to convict Madhavan by the trial court to 14 years, taking into account his poor socio-economic background. 

Reducing the jail term given to Madhvan by fast-track Mahila Court in Ariyalur, the bench said, “A teacher is a role model to every student. shockingly in this case, a shameless teacher is alleged to have sexually exploited a 14-year-old child, who was his student. He is not God-like, but an evil being.” The bench made the observation while rejecting Madhvan’s plea. 

According to prosecution, Madhavan worked as a teacher in Government High School in Ariyalur district, where the victim girl was studying. The accused who was already married had made a false promise to marry the girl had sexually exploited her in 2015 after taking her to a place in Jayamkondan. 

The girl had subsequently lodged a complaint to an all-women’s police station in Ariyalur against the teacher, who was arrested, put on trial and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 years by the Mahila Court. The lower court had also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 and further ordered him to pay a sum of Rs 50,000 as compensation. 

A special CBI court on Thursday granted 21-days interim bail to Kolkata-based businessman Paras Mal Lodha, arrested in connection with the alleged illegal conversion of over Rs 25 crore in old currency for mining baron J Sekhar Reddy. Lodha was arrested in connection with the case in Dec last by ED. 

On January 5, Lodha was produced before Additional CBI Court Judge K Venkatasamy, relating to bank fraud cases. 

In his bail petition, he submitted that he is the only son and already the Delhi CBI court had granted 21 days of interim bail in the case before that court. He filed the present bail petition in the case before the Chennai CBI court, which on Thursday granted him 21 days interim bail. In the case of Rs 34 crore in new currency notes, Lodha was cited as the sixth accused after Sekhar Reddy, V Srinivasalu, Dindigul Rathinam, Muthupettai Ramachandran and auditor Prem Kumar.