Violence breaks out on TN campuses

CHENNAI: Protests erupted on the campuses of two deemed universities in TN on Tuesday and a few others hurriedly declared long holidays and shut down hostels fearing a stormy reaction from students, a day after the Union government informed the Supreme Court that 44 deemed universities, 16 of them in Tamil Nadu, would be derecognised.
Student protests – like at Saveetha School of Engineering in Thandalam and on Meenakshi University campus at Mangadu — were fuelled not just by apprehensions over their future but due to an embittered atmosphere generated by the lack of amenities.

THANJAVUR: A day after violence broke out on campuses of two deemed universities in Chennai, unrest spread to Thanjavur with students of the Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology University (Prist University) going on a rampage. On Wednesday, students pelted stones at the college building at Vallam, near Thanjavur, broke furniture and destroyed the booth for security personnel at the entrance of the college.
In Chennai, the campus of Vels University similarly witnessed some tense scenes before authorities declared a holiday to defuse the situation. PRIST and Vels are among 44 educational institutions likely to lose their deemed university status, as per the recommendations of a union HRD ministry-appointed panel.

The Prist management had convened a meeting with students to assure them that their studies would not be affected by the government decision. The students, however, walked out of the meeting and gathered in front of the building. In an attempt to prevent them from walking out of the campus, the authorities reportedly shut the main door of the college, which enraged the students.

Woman murdered in broad daylight

CHENNAI: A 45-year-old woman was murdered in her apartment at Ashok Nagar around 2pm on Tuesday. Police said there was no apparent sign of robbery. Kala Subramanian, the wife of an auditor, had returned from a gym around 1.30pm. She was found dead in her workout gear — a track suit and a T-shirt — on the third floor of an apartment located on the corner of 92nd Street and 18th Avenue junction in Ashok Nagar.
A neighbour told the police that he heard some noise from Kala’s house at 1.45pm. After some time, he saw a man wearing a dark shirt and trousers leaving the place. Since there was no further noise from the apartment, the neighbour said he informed a sweeper about it. The sweeper, who went up to the apartment, found the door ajar. She found Kala lying dead in the hall in a pool of blood.

Security guards in neighbouring apartments also said they had noticed a man wearing a black shirt walking with a knife on 18th Avenue.

A sniffer dog was brought in, and it ran along the length of 92nd Street and then to 18th Avenue, but stopped at the end of the road.

Two picked up for Ashok Nagar murder

CHENNAI: The KK Nagar police have picked up a gym instructor in connection with the murder of Kala Subramanian (45) in her third floor apartment on Ashok Nagar 18th Avenue on Tuesday.
Police suspect that the trainer, at whose gym Kala was a member, could be behind the murder. Kala was stabbed by an unidentified man after she returned from her gym around 1.30pm on Tuesday.

KK Nagar inspector R Mahendran said two men had been picked up for questioning. “We have not got any breakthrough yet,” he said.

Police said the gym trainer, who was thrown out of the gym following an alleged affair he had with a member, used to frequent Kala’s house. Police sources said they would take the suspects for an identification parade.

Haiti earthquake feared to have killed many

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake which struck off the coast of Haiti is feared to have caused major loss of life in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s worst quake in two centuries seriously damaged the HQ of the UN mission in Haiti and a “large number” of its personnel are reported missing.

Haiti’s envoy to the US talked of a “catastrophe of major proportions”.

Buildings, including a hospital, are said to have collapsed, and rescue efforts are under way.

The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of the capital, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.

The tremor hit at 1653 (2153 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. Phone lines to the country failed shortly afterwards.

A Reuters reporter in Port-au-Prince, Joseph Guyler Delva, said he had seen “dozens of dead and injured people” in the rubble of fallen buildings.

Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Port-au-Prince, told colleagues in the US “there must be thousands of people dead”.

The aid worker had managed to phone his colleagues before communication links went down.

The BBC’s Nick Davies in neighbouring Jamaica says the ground apparently shook for more than a minute in Haiti.

Local people, he said, were using anything they could get their hands on – including farm equipment – to help release those trapped in the quake.

Our correspondent adds that, as the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti is likely to need international aid in order to cope with the quake’s impact.

‘Three million affected’

In a statement issued in New York, the UN said that its local HQ in Haiti had “sustained serious damage along with other UN installations”.

“A large number of personnel remain unaccounted for,” it added.

The UN stabilisation mission plays a vital role in ensuring security in Haiti.

Raymond Joseph, Haiti’s ambassador to the US, told CNN: “I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions.”

He said he had just spoken to a government colleague in Port-au-Prince:

“He had to stop his car just about half an hour ago, and take to the streets, start walking, but he said houses were crumbling on the right side of the street and the left side of the street.

“He does not know whether he would reach his home, not knowing what he would find, because he had a bridge to cross to get there.”
Mike Blanpied of the US Geological Survey said that, based on the location and size of the quake, about three million people will have been severely shaken by its impact.

“This quake occurred under land as opposed to off-shore, so a lot of people were directly exposed to the shaking coming off that earthquake fault, which was quite shallow,” he told the BBC.

He added that as the quake had occurred near a highly populated urban area, the aftershocks could cause additional damage to already shaken buildings.

US President Barack Obama said in a statement that his “thoughts and prayers” were with the people of Haiti and America stood ready to assist them.

‘Rubble and wire’

An Associated Press cameraman saw the wrecked hospital in Petionville, a hilly suburb of the capital, and Henry Bahn, a visiting official from the US Department of Agriculture, said he had seen houses which had tumbled into a ravine.

“Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken,” said Mr Bahn, who described the sky as “just grey with dust”.

He said he had been walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake.

“I just held on and bounced across the wall,” he said.

“I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance.”

He said rocks were strewn all over the place, and the ravine where several homes had fallen in was “just full of collapsed walls and rubble and barbed wire”.

BBC News website readers in the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, said they had also felt the quake.

“My family is on the 8th floor of a tower in downtown Santo Domingo,” wrote Max Levine.

“We felt a swaying of the building for 5-10 seconds. All the lamps were swinging. There was a 20-second pause and then another similar sway. We rushed out of the building with many others to the street.”

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, a tsunami watch was put out for Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas, but this was later lifted.

Shopaholic NRI VP of US firm in soup over $4.5m fraud

WASHINGTON: She was with an American corporation that made the Koss stereo headphones for nearly 18 years and worked her way up becoming vice-president of finance; she earned a six-figure salary, was the wife of a well-

heeled physician, and they owned a million-dollar suburban home. She was an adjunct professor at a well-known university and a pillar of local civil scene, supporting local charity events and helping the poor. Sujata Sachdeva’s life defined immigrant-Indians’ success in the United States.

Yet, last week, in a case that had the American corporate world aghast, Sachdeva, 46, stood accused of embezzling up to $4.5 million from Milwaukee-based Koss Corporation. She spent most of the money at high-end stores, buying expensive clothing and accessories.

How could she, you ask? Although the sum involved is small beer by modern American corporate standards, it’s her likely defence that has everyone slack-jawed: it’s ‘oniomania’ or simply, an addiction to shopping.

According to a criminal complaint last week, Sachdeva spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at boutique stores in and around Milwaukee over the last two years, buying expensive items some of which she did not even unpack fully, much less use. The spending spree included $1.3 million at a store called Valentia and $600,000 each at Au Courant and Zita.

Her urge to splurge came to light when she put the tab on her American Express card and paid it off by transferring money from accounts of Koss Corporation, where she literally held the purse strings. American Express executives reportedly contacted the CEO of Koss and told him that Sachdeva was paying down her balances with large wire transfers from a Koss bank account. Koss CEO Michael Koss then personally went to Sachdeva’s office and found many American Express credit card statements and several large piles of women’s clothing with attached price tags, some for more than $2,000.

Confronted by FBI agents at her Mequon home last Monday, Sachdeva acknowledged she had bought clothing, jewellery and other personal items with money she diverted from Koss Corp, according to local media reports.

She said she carried out the scheme on her own, directing her assistant to make the fraudulent wire transfers. Sachdeva apparently said she concealed the transfers by falsifying the balance in Koss’ bank account.

While Sachdeva’s spending extended over two years, the fraudulent wire transfers occurred over just three months last fall, according to the complaint. Because of Sachdeva’s shenanigans and her position as VP finance, who signed the company’s financial statements, Koss, a publicly traded firm, has had to halt trading till its books are re-examined. Some reports suggest Sachdeva’s embezzlement may go further back in the company’s history and may run up to $20 million.

A loss of $4.5 million could be huge for Koss, which, despite its brand name, is a relatively small company with annual revenues of less than $40 million and only around 75 employees. For the Indian community, the story is a salutary reminder that its widely-chronicled success is spotted with a few odd contretemps.

Koss fires auditor, says losses reach $31 million

Koss Corp. has fired its auditor, Grant Thornton, as an expanded internal investigation turned up new losses that now total $31 million, going back to 2005, the company said Monday.

Stock in the Milwaukee-based stereophone manufacturer has not traded since Dec. 21, when the company’s vice president of finance, Sujata (Sue) Sachdeva, was charged with embezzling $4.5 million.

The company said Monday that it was evaluating candidates to replace Grant Thornton. The company expects to have a recommendation on a new auditor from its Audit Committee within the next week.

“None of Grant Thornton’s audit reports of Koss Corporation’s financial statements, including the ones for the past two fiscal years, contained an adverse opinion, a disclaimer of opinion, nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty, scope, or accounting principals,” Koss said in a news release.

The company’s internal investigation is continuing, supervised by an independent committee of Koss’ board of directors, including the committee’s independent counsel and forensic accountants. Koss also is trying to recover merchandise related to the unauthorized transactions of which Sachdeva, of Mequon, is accused.

According to the federal charge, Sachdeva used the money she embezzled to buy millions of dollars worth of expensive clothing and jewelry. Unable to find room in her home for all of her purchases, Sachdeva rented space to store the clothing, including 1,000 square feet in a Third Ward office building, according to the people who are close to the situation.

Koss said Monday that the company’s financial statements going back to 2005 are unreliable. The company also said it is not known how much of its losses due to fraud may be offset by recoveries of insurance of other assets.

Koss is controlled by the family of founder John Koss, which holds 73% of the shares.

Sachdeva, 46, is free on an unsecured $50,000 bond, and has turned her passport over to the court. She has not yet entered a plea, and has a court date set for Jan. 11.

Sachdeva has held her current position with Koss since 1992. Michael Koss, son of the founder, holds the title of chief financial officer. He also is chief executive officer and chief operating officer.

Because of its size, Koss hasn’t been required to have its outside auditor assess the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls over its financial reporting. Grant Thornton’s annual statements specify that Koss did not contract with the accounting firm to conduct such reviews.

Koss executive accused of embezzling more than $4.5 million

A longtime financial executive with Koss Corp. was accused Monday of embezzling more than $4.5 million from the Milwaukee company and using the money to pay for shopping sprees at upscale stores.

Sujata Sachdeva, vice president of finance at Koss since 1992 and an active participant in Milwaukee’s civic scene, was charged with wire fraud, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Jacobs, prosecutor in the case. She appeared in federal court late Monday and was released on an unsecured bond, Jacobs said.

Over the past two years, Sachdeva is accused of using embezzled money to pay credit card charges for pricey jewelry, high-end women’s clothing and expensive household items, Jacobs said, citing the criminal complaint.

Authorities say her bills paid with Koss funds included $1.3 million in clothing from a single store in Mequon, $130,000 in jewelry and $600,000 from a bridal store in Milwaukee, Jacobs said.

FBI agents arrested Sachdeva on Monday, and Jacobs said she allowed agents to search her Mequon home. There and at her office, Jacobs said, agents found a number of clothing items, some with price tags still on them. Some of the items cost $2,000 apiece, he said.

Earlier Monday, the Nasdaq stock exchange halted trading in Koss shares at the company’s request. Shares last traded Monday at $5.51, down from an adjusted 52-week high of $7.89 in mid-April. The stock recently split.

The maker of stereo headphones said in a brief statement that the request to halt trading followed its discovery of “unauthorized transactions” and its suspension of Sachdeva without pay.

The firm said its board has appointed a special committee of independent directors to internally investigate the transactions and determine their effect, if any, on Koss’ financial statements.

As secretary of the corporation, Sachdeva signs those statements, as does Michael J. Koss, whose titles include chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

The amount of money that Sachdeva is accused of stealing over two years is huge for a firm the size of Koss Corp.

In the fiscal year ended June 30, the company reported making $2 million on $38.2 million in sales. The firm reported a $566,000 profit in its most recent quarter, ended Sept. 30.

Sachdeva is on the board of trustees of Cardinal Stritch University and the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee, and formerly was on the board of the Skylight Opera Theatre.

She has appeared several times in recent years at charity events for various local organizations.

Property records indicate she has shared ownership in the Mequon home with Ramesh C. Sachdeva, a pediatrician and a vice president at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

Ramesh Sachdeva also is a Marquette University Law School graduate and an adjunct professor there.

Sujata Sachdeva, who is in her mid-40s, was paid $173,734 by Koss Corp. in total compensation in fiscal 2009 and $206,462 in fiscal 2008, company filings show.

She could not be reached for comment Monday.

Wife helps in transplant of doc-husband’s organs

CHENNAI: New Year’s eve was a full working day for Priya Gopal, a media coordinator attached to Frontier Lifeline hospital here. On Thursday, she called the media to provide information about a heart harvested by her hospital from a brain-dead person. What made the job different and probably difficult was that the organ was harvested from her husband, cardiac surgeon Dr K Krishnagopal.

Dr Krishnagopal (40), chief cardiac surgeon at Vadamalayan Hospital in Madurai, was admitted to hospital on December 26 after he fell from the third floor of his apartment complex and sustained head injuries. On Thursday, when doctors at the hospital pronounced him brain dead, Priya, who was by his bedside, and their children, aged 12 and 9, signed the papers for organ transplants. She also messaged the organ registry about the prospective donor.

Incidentally, Vadamalayan Hospital was waiting for a heart tranplant license, hoping that Dr Krishnagopal would lead the team at the Vadamalayan Heart Foundation. On Thursday, the hospital got emergency registration to harvest Dr Krishnagopal’s heart.

A team of doctors from Frontier Lifeline harvested his heart, liver and kidneys to be transplanted in different patients. In fact, Dr Krishnagopal was working with Frontier Lifeline before he moved to Madurai in August
2007.

Dr Cherian, whose team harvested Dr Krishnagopal’s heart, said he was too shocked to speak.

“His heart is too precious and we all wanted to keep it beating. It is being flown to Chennai for a patient who badly needs one,” Priya said.

Organ registry co-ordinator J Amalorpavanathan said he was informed about the case early on Thursday, when doctors did the first brain death certification. While the heart was retrieved by Frontier Lifeline, the kidneys were harvested by Meenakshi Mission Hospital in Madurai and Galaxy Hospital in Tirunelveli.

Though a team from Apollo Hospitals harvested the liver, they could not transplant it.

The heart was flown by a Paramount airways flight to Chennai.

Dr Krishnagopal had returned to India in June 2006 after getting trained in paediatric and adult cardiac surgery in Singapore. He worked at Frontier Lifeline and was trained by Dr Cherian. In August 2007, he founded the Vadamalayan Heart Foundation in Madurai, where he performed more than 400 heart surgeries, including some rare paediatric cases. He was also attempting to set up stem cell therapy research units in the hospital.