A M Sadhick Batcha, suspect in the 2G scam and a close collaborator of sacked telecom minister A Raja, was found dead in his Chennai home on Wednesday afternoon.
The Chennai Police said it was suicide, but didn’t rule out foul play. Seen as the man who knew too much about the scam, CBI sources said Batcha was considering turning approver.
The story of A M Sadhick Batcha, managing director of Green House Promoters — one of the companies linked to the 2G spectrum scam — has now been oft-repeated: a small-time textile merchant from Pallippatti village near Karur who rose to become super rich even while carefully keeping a low profile.
WHO IS SADHICK BATCHA
A M Sadhick Batcha was rudely thrust into the media spotlight after falling into CBI’s net. He was a close business associate of former telecom minister A Raja, who was forced to resign in the wake of the 2G spectrum scam. According to reports, Batcha was the person who could provide investigating agencies with vital clues linking Raja to the scam.
Those in his native village remember him as a young man who once went around on his cycle, selling shirt and pant pieces and saris. He ventured into chit fund business but was not successful. He then turned his attention to brokering land deals.
Soon after Raja became union environment minister in 2004, Batcha floated a real estate firm in Chennai. He was the managing director of the new company, Green House Promoters, while his brother AM Jamal Mohammed was made executive director and wife Reha Banu the director.
A M Sadhick Batcha, the forty something Batcha was under the CBI and income-tax department scanner for various alleged violations, including of FEMA, and routing money to Swan Telecom, which is said to be acquiring a stake worth Rs 1,000 crore in Green House Promoters, floated by Batcha and controlled by Raja’s family. Investigating agencies are now looking into how a company that was formed with a capital of Rs 1 lakh in 2004 soared to revenues of over Rs 600 crore in just five years.
Batcha hails from Raja’s constituency, Perambalur, in southern Tamil Nadu. The small-time sari seller was introduced to the DMK leader in the late 1990s. Batcha become one of Raja’s trusted associates and he stood by the former minister, even when he lost the elections in 1998.
Green House Promoters was formed barely four months after Raja became Union Cabinet minister for environment & forests in May 2004. Though Batcha was the company’s promoter, it was literally run by Raja’s wife, brother, nephew, niece and other relatives, who subsequently became directors.
When the Chennai-based real estate company was floated, Batcha was appointed managing director and his wife, Reha Banu, was made director. The joint managing director is Raja’s nephew, R P Paramesh Kumar. His brother, A Kaliaperumal, was also a director. Yet another director is R Ram Ganesh, the son of Raja’s elder brother, A Ramchandran.
Subsequently, the share capital of the firm surged from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 crore in 14 months of launch. Three years later, in February 2007, the former minister’s wife, M A Parameswari, joined the board. She resigned in early 2008 and her shares were transferred to Raja’s neice Malarvizhi.
One of Green House’s major customers was MRF, which hired the company to facilitate land acquisition for a proposed Rs 900-crore greenfield facility at Tiruchy.
Batcha was found dead at his residence on Wednesday March 16. Police sources said Batcha’s suicide note cleared Raja and his wife of any involvement in the 2G scam and that he was taking his life because of the embarrassment of being probed by the CBI. His wife’s complaint to the police said he was under a lot of pressure because of the investigation.
He says in note that he feels sorry for Raja’s plight and expressed his wish to be reborn.
Batcha was the key person who was turning out to be approver for CBI in this scam. There is some foul play behind his death as he was the main person and the scam revolves around him.Now when he is dead, just hope investigation won’t affect.
The alleged suicide kicked up a political storm. Janta Party president Subramanian Swamy, who has taken the 2G scam to court, said that the CBI must investigate Batcha’s death.
J Jayalalithaa, the ruling DMK’s main opposition, said that Raja needed to be protected, “otherwise he could go the Batcha way”. She also recalled the suicide of “Stalin’s close aide and known benami, Anna Nagar Ramesh and his whole family… (since) he was contemplating coming clean”, in a statement.
The Tamil Nadu government, sources said, was contemplating handing over investigations into Batcha’s sudden death to the CBI.