Chennai: Over 50 parents of 94 children, who died in the Kumbakonam school fire tragedy, have approached the Madras high court, alleging misappropriation of a major portion of the compensation amount awarded by the government to them by their counsel, who appeared for them earlier.
U.Marimuthu and others sought to implead themselves as parties in the original contempt applications filed in 2017. His son was burnt to death in the fire at the school on July 16, 2004. After several round of litigations, the government awarded compensations ranging from Rs 5 lakh each to the parents of the victims.
The government also deposited Rs 8.01 lakh in his bank account on December 21, 2016. But, even before the amount was deposited in the bank, his counsel S.Tamilarasan summoned the parents and obtained two undated cheques and signatures in blank papers from them. Thereafter, he received a communication from the bank that Rs 2.30 lakh was deducted from his account.
When he made enquiries with the bank, he found that his counsel had misused the blank cheques and diverted the money. When the case came up for hearing on Friday, a division bench comprising Justices R.Mahadevan and V.Parthiban permitted the petitioners to implead themselves in the case and posted to April 9, further hearing of the case.
