Anna varsity V-C's wife under scanner

CHENNAI: An educational and charitable trust founded by S Amirtha Sanjeevi, wife of Anna University (Coimbatore) vice-chancellor R Radhakrishnan, has come under the scanner following a complaint that large sums of money flowed into the trusts bank account in a short period.
The trust, Prahar Foundation, was formed by Amirtha Sanjeevi with a token sum of Rs 1,000 and registered in Coimbatore in March last year.However, in the trust deed, Amirtha Sanjeevi is described as the daughter of late M P Sadhasivam, and her relationship with Radhakrishnan is not mentioned. Her mother, S Kamalam, is the only other trustee of the Foundation, as per the registration documents.
Several large sums were deposited during the past year into trusts��� account with Karur Vysya Bank in Coimbatore. Within a year of its formation, the trust acquired over 60 acres of land in and around Coimbatore, registered for a value of over Rs 1.46 crore.
One of the properties in Nanjundapuram village, about 5km from Thudiyalur, was initially identified for the university headed by Radhakrishnan himself. The university did not acquire the land; it was the trust floated by the vice-chancellors wife that bought it. After Chennai-based advocate S Sivapandi submitted a complaint to governor Surjit Singh Barnala, who is also the chancellor of the university, levelling various allegations of corruption against Radhakrishnan, a vigilance inquiry was ordered.
In his complaint, Sivapandi alleged that both Amirtha Sanjeevi and her mother were housewives and did not have any independent sources of income. He urged the governor to order a probe to ascertain the source of funding for the trust.
A perusal of the bank statement of Prahar Foundation revealed high value transactions on different dates. For instance on August 1, 2008, five deposits of Rs 9 lakh each were made. Eight days later, on August 9, Rs 24 lakh was withdrawn from the account through four cheque/DD transactions of Rs 6 lakh each. Likewise, on August 20 last year, two deposits of Rs 5 lakh each were credited in the account.
Alleging that several cheques presented by the trust had got dishonoured, Sivapandi said it was surprising that the bank had not taken any action against it. Radhakrishnan, when contacted, dismissed the allegations against him and his family.