A M Sadhick Batcha was rudely thrust into the media spotlight last week after falling into CBI’s net. He is a close business associate of former telecom minister A Raja, who was forced to resign in the wake of the 2G spectrum scam. According to reports, Batcha could provide investigating agencies with vital clues linking Raja to the scam.
The fortysomething Batcha was under the CBI and income-tax department scanner for various alleged violations, including of FEMA, and routing money to Swan Telecom, which is said to be acquiring a stake worth Rs 1,000 crore in Green House Promoters, floated by Batcha and controlled by Raja’s family. Investigating agencies are now looking into how a company that was formed with a capital of Rs 1 lakh in 2004 soared to revenues of over Rs 600 crore in just five years.
Batcha hails from Raja’s constituency, Perambalur, in southern Tamil Nadu. The small-time sari seller was introduced to the DMK leader in the late 1990s. Batcha become one of Raja’s trusted associates and he stood by the former minister, even when he lost the elections in 1998.
Green House Promoters was formed barely four months after Raja became Union Cabinet minister for environment & forests in May 2004. Though Batcha was the company’s promoter, it was literally run by Raja’s wife, brother, nephew, niece and other relatives, who subsequently became directors.
When the Chennai-based real estate company was floated, Batcha was appointed managing director and his wife, Reha Banu, was made director. The joint managing director is Raja’s nephew, R P Paramesh Kumar. His brother, A Kaliaperumal, was also a director. Yet another director is R Ram Ganesh, the son of Raja’s elder brother, A Ramchandran.
Subsequently, the share capital of the firm surged from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 crore in 14 months of launch. Three years later, in February 2007, the former minister’s wife, M A Parameswari, joined the board. She resigned in early 2008 and her shares were transferred to Raja’s neice Malarvizhi.
One of Green House’s major customers was MRF, which hired the company to facilitate land acquisition for a proposed Rs 900-crore greenfield facility at Tiruchy.
