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Muthiah's petition dismissed in SPIC case

A special court Thursday dismissed petitions filed by former Tamil Nadu industries secretary C Ramachandran and industrialist A C Muthiah seeking to discharge them from the SPIC disinvestment case in which the former state chief minister J Jayalalitha is the main accused.

Special judge A C Arumughaperumal Adityan dismissed Ramachandran's petition on the ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed sufficient statements and records to frame charges against him.

Dismissing Muthiah's petition the judge held that the document filed by the investigating agency show a prima facie case of conspiracy between Muthiah, Jayalalitha and Ramachandran.

In his petition, Ramachandran had contended that he was not responsible for the state government's February 1992 decision which enabled M A Chidambaram, since deceased, to assume the chairmanship of Southern Petro-Chemicals Industries Corporation Ltd.

On the contrary, he alleged, it was the then state chief secretary T V Venkataraman, who was responsible for deviating from the policy of having the chief secretary as chairman of the joint sector company.

In his petition seeking discharge from the case, Muthiah, currently SPIC chairman, contended that the entire case against him by the CBI was hypothetical.

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