Lexus car import case: Madras HC confirms jail term of Sasikala’s husband Natarajan

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Friday confirmed a trial court verdict convicting and sentencing M Natarajan, husband of jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, to two years of imprisonment in connection with the import of a luxury car.
The issue pertains to the import of a Toyota Lexus car in 1994 by Natarajan and three others declaring it as a used 1993 model vehicle. The CBI and enforcement directorate registered separate cases against the four people.
According to the CBI, Natarajan, along with three others — his nephew V Bhaskaran, Yogesh Balakrishnan and Sujaritha Sundararajan — substituted the original sale invoice with a photocopy of an invoice fabricated by changing the vehicle's manufacturing date to July 1993.
They cleared the car under transfer of residence provision and thereby caused a loss of Rs 1.06 crore to the exchequer by way of short levy, penalty and redemption fine.
In 2010, concluding the trial, a special court convicted all the accused and sentenced them to two years of imprisonment. Assailing the conviction, Natarajan moved an appeal in the high court.
When the plea came up for hearing on Friday, Justice G Jayachandran dismissed the appeal moved by Natarajan and confirmed the trial court order.
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