Chennai: Sugarmills CMD vows to clear dues

Chennai: The Economic Office Wing, Cuddalore, released CMD Rama Tyagarajan of Thiru Arooran Sugars Ltd., after he promised to settle the dues to a sugarcane farmer who had complained that the sugar baron had cheated him of his dues for the cane sold and also raised fake bank loans in his name to benefit his coffers.

Police explained that the millionaire was released to enable him to settle the dues of about 11,523 cane farmers, running to Rs 88.51 crore.

A senior police official, requesting anonymity, claimed that he was released only to safeguard the interest of cane farmers, as keeping him in jail would delay these farmers recovering the dues, running to several crores of rupees, from him.

However, there are reports that police released the sugar baron in the midnight due to pressure from 'political bosses'.

On Wednesday night, Tyagarajan was picked from his palatial house in Chennai. He was taken to Cuddalore for questioning relating to complaints lodged by farmers.

In his complaint, Stalin (36) of Kachimaiylur, Cuddalore district, stated that he supplied 250 tonnes of sugarcane to Thiru Arooran Sugars Ltd., at Chittur near Vridhachalam, in Cuddalore district, in 2016.

The mill management promised to pay him Rs 6.37 lakh for the purchase made from him. But, he had received only Rs 1.37 lakh as advance and the management had not paid the remaining Rs 5 lakh.

Similarly, the mill procured cane from 11,523 farmers in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The management had reportedly duped them of Rs 88.51 crore.

In their complaints, the farmers had stated that the management told them that the mill had made a special arrangement with a nationalised bank, which will pay their dues in installments, and subsequently, the management would repay

them. They charged that the sugar mill management got their signatures on application forms claiming that it would transfer their dues in installments to their bank accounts, but failed to do so.

Subsequently, the farmers received money in installments from the nationalised bank.

However, after a few months, they received notices from the bank asking them to repay the loans that they had availed from the bank.

The farmers stated that they never availed any loan from the bank and believed that the money they received in installments from the bank was a part of their settlement for selling cane to the mill. Only later they realised that the mill management had availed loans in their names and transferred the loan amount in installments.

The management neither repaid the loans nor settled their dues for procurement sugarcane in the financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18. The mega racket came to the fore only when the bank started sending notice to the farmers of possible attachment of properties for loan default.

Tyagarajan also has two sugar mills in Thanjavur district and allegedly had duped cane farmers in Thanjavur district also in a similar manner, running to several crores of rupees.