Man sentenced in graft case now in dementia, kins seek mercy

Thiruvananthauram, Feb 15 (PTI) The graft case convictionof an 81-year-old former official, now laid up in a state ofdementia, has thrown up the question whether he would be sentto jail.

S Ramabhadran Nair, who was Chairman of the Kerala StateElectricity Board (KSEB) in 1980s, was last week sentenced toone-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court along witha former Minister and a contractor.

Nair''s family members yesterday submitted a plea to ChiefMinister V S Achuthanandan seeking his intervention forgetting remission of the punishment considering his condition.

Nair was awarded the punishment alongwith the then powerMinister R Blakrishna Pillai and a contractor in theEdamalayayar case relating to corruption in awarding contractsfor a hydro electric project in 1982.

The relatives said Nair had been bedridden at his residencehere after he suffered a head injury during a road accidentsome years back.

"He does not even know that he has been given jail term asfor the last several years he has not been able to recogniseanybody around him", Nair''s relatives said.

According to legal circles, one of the options before Nairis to submit a clemency petition to the President to exempthim from the punishment in view of his situation.

The prosecution case against Nair was that he was part ofa criminal conspiracy that caused loss of Rs 2 crore to KSEBby awarding contracts for power tunnel and surge shaft of theproject.