The Madras High Court upheld the conviction of Papanasam MLA M H Jawahirullah and four others for cheating. Justice P Velmurugan dismissed their revision petitions challenging a 2011 trial court ruling, but allowed a stay on the order to enable an appeal. The CBI accused the defendants of forming an unauthorized association, the Coimbatore Muslim Relief Fund, which accepted Rs 1.54 crore in foreign contributions without government permission between 1997 and 2000. Jawahirullah and S Hyder Ali received one year of rigorous imprisonment, while the others were sentenced to two years.
Chennai:
The Madras High Court on Friday upheld a trial court’s decision that convicted and sentenced Papanasam MLA M H Jawahirullah along with four others in a cheating case.
Justice P Velmurugan rejected the criminal revision petitions submitted by Jawahirullah, S Hyder Ali, and G M Sheik, which contested the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s ruling in Egmore from 2011.
At the request of the petitioners’ counsel, the judge has temporarily suspended the implementation of his order to allow the petitioners to file an appeal, seeking a stay or suspension of the ruling.
Jawahirullah is a prominent member of the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) party.
The CBI investigated the case and filed charges against Jawahirullah, Hyder Ali, Nizar Ahmed, Sheik, and Kalanjim in 2003. The agency claimed that between December 15, 1997, and June 20, 2000, the accused conspired and established an organization named Coimbatore Muslim Relief Fund to collect foreign contributions without registering their association as required and without obtaining prior approval from the Government of India.
According to CBI, they received foreign donations amounting to Rs 1.54 crore.
After finding the accused guilty, the ACMM sentenced Jawahirullah and Hyder Ali to one year of rigorous imprisonment (RI), while the other defendants—Sayed Nizar Ahmed, Sheik, and Nalla Mohamed Kalanjim—were sentenced to two years of RI.
M H Jawahirullah represents Papanasam (Tirunelveli district) in the current Assembly.
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