Father-son battle at Chettinad group gets ugly

Clashes at Chennai's Chettinad House, factions blame each other for violence

The ongoing tussle between former Chettinad Group chairman M A M Ramaswamy and his adopted son, M A M R Muthiah, took an ugly turn early Saturday morning, with a group of 30-40 men breaking into Chennai's Chettinad House, allegedly to steal some documents.

Muthiah, also known as Ayappan, is the managing director of Chettinad Cements. The group has interests in cement and education, among other sectors.

Ramaswamy alleged his life was in danger as Muthiah wanted to take away the “little” assets that belonged to him. He also claimed the intruders were Muthiah’s men who attacked the house because their master wanted him dead.

Muthiah's side, represented by lawyer M Murali, however, rubbished the allegation, and instead claimed Ramaswamy's men attacked Muthiah, who was about to enter his residence, also inside Chettinad House.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, said Muthiah's men tried to take away some documents from the house, and attacked when they were stopped by his men. To this, Murali’s answer was that it was Ramaswamy’s men who tried to cut off his client's access to his residence at Chettinad House, and when Muthiah’s security people retorted, they were attacked.

Through the day Muthiah was in Singapore, where he now lives, and had returned to Chennai only last night.

Ramaswamy had come out of his house on a wheel-chair, at around 3 am on Saturday, to address the media and inform 30-40 people, allegedly his son’s men, had broken glasses of the house and tried to purloin documents.

“The motive of those who attacked yesterday night was to finish me and take control of the house, too. Almost 90 per cent of my assets have already been taken away. Now the attempt is to take over even the little that is left with me,” said Ramaswamy, adding he had set up a trust to protect whatever money was left (Rs 60-70 crore).

Following Ramaswamy's complaint, at 4:15 am, a group of policemen reached the spot and secured the place.

Muthiah's lawyer told reporters that Muthiah had reached Chennai from Singapore at around 11 pm and driven straight to Chettinad House — the father and the son stay in the same complex but in different blocks — and found his room and office locked. Around 200 of Ramaswamy’s people tried to take on Muthiah, Murali claimed.

The lawyer added Ramaswami and Muthiah had reached a compromise after mediation from the police. Officials like Deputy Commissioners of Police at Mylapore and Triplicane, who conducted the inquiry, refused to talk, while Ramaswamy denied a compromise had been reached.

Ramaswamy said his helps were trying to clean the house. This, he said, was necessary because Muthiah had terminated around 100 of his helps and the place was in a very unkempt state.

The relations between Ramaswamy and his adopted son have been strained in recent past. There were some dramatic events in August last year and several litigation followed. At various forums, 10-12 cases related to the father-son dispute are still pending.

Background

The tussle within the oldest, and perhaps the most famous family-run business of Tamil Nadu came out in the open in August last year, with shareholders of Chettinad Cement voting against reappointment of the octogenarian chairman, Ramaswamy, as a director of the company.

A day earlier, on August 26, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested M Manuneethi Cholan, the registrar of companies in Chennai, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh. According to CBI, Ramaswamy, fearing his removal and the takeover of the company’s management by a rebel faction, had offered Cholan Rs 10 lakh for declaring any decision taken at the meeting “null and void”.

At that time, Muthiah had denied the allegations of any succession war with his father. “When I am the only son, where is the question of a succession war,” he had asked. “So far as a power struggle is concerned, I have been running the company for 15-16 years and taking all decisions.”

In 2012, Forbes had listed Ramaswamy as the 88th-richest person in India, with a net worth of $650 million. His palatial house, Chettinad House, was estimated to be worth Rs 1,700-2,000 crore. An avid horse racer, Ramaswami has been featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for winning over 500 classic races. He still owns around 1,000 horses, according to reports.

Insiders in the group and other sources confirm that it is indeed Muthiah who has been steering the ship for over a decade now. Muthiah earlier claimed, "For the past 15-16 years, though my father was chairman, I was running the business because he had other interests."