 "DMK's RS member convicted in cheating resigns")
Selvaganapathy told reporters his resignation was submitted to the chairman of Rajya Sabha and added he would approach the higher court and prove his innocence. According to the regulation, since he was proven guilty by the Judge, Selvaganapathy would lose his post once the order is conveyed to the Parliamentary Secretariat, even if he did not resign.
He joined the DMK in August 2008 and took charge as a member of RS in June 2010. According to reports, he is the first politician from Tamil Nadu to be disqualified from Parliament in such a case.
The Special Judge for CBI cases, Chennai, convicted Selvaganapathy and four others to undergo two years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 25,000 each for allegedly cheating the state and the central governments related to construction of cremation sheds under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana.
The others include J T Acharulu, then secretary, and M Sathyamurthy, then director of rural department, along with Krishnamurthy, then project officer and T Bharathi, a private person.
CBI had registered a case on May 2, 1997 on the directions of High Court of Madras against T M Selvaganapathy, the then Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration in Tamil Nadua long with others, on the allegations that the accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1995 and 1996 at Chennai and other places in Tamil Nadu and cheated the Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu in the matter of construction of cremation sheds under Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), which was not an identified item of work under JRY Scheme and also used the JRY funds.
It was also alleged that such work should not have been entrusted to co-operative societies and advanced payment to the societies was prohibited by the Tamil Nadu Government. But the work was given for construction of cremation sheds to Karungulam Co-operative Society in Nagapattinam District. The payments were made to the Society through demand drafts and the Special Officer of the Society facilitated Bharathi, a private person, who executed the work of erection of cremetion sheds though he was not the member of the society. He executed the said work in a substandard manner through the sub-contractors and not in conformity with the specifications, to encash the demand drafts. A loss was caused to the tune of around Rs 23 lakh to the Government, added a CBI announcement.
After thorough investigation, a charge sheet was filed against them. The Special Officer of Society expired and charges against him were abated while on completion of trial, all the other accused persons were found guilty, said the announcement.