A couple has been sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment for cheating the Union government and causing a loss of Rs 61.08 crore to the exchequer.
An Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court found N A Jayaram and his wife Shyla N J guilty of cheating the Centre in the export of Muriate of Potash, a restricted item for export, without refunding the subsidy granted by the Union government. The court also fined them Rs 1.40 lakh each. The couple runs Bilwa Labs, a manufacturer of pharmaceutical chemicals.
The prosecution's case was that the accused tried to export Potassium Chloride (Muriate of Potash) by falsely declaring it an industrial salt. The transaction caused a loss of
Rs 61.08 crore to the exchequer.
The CBI filed the charge sheet in December 2012 under various sections of the IPC, section 7(1)(a)(ii) of the Essential Commodities Act, and sections 132, 135 and 135A of the Customs Act.
