Chennai, June 9: Industrialist M.A.M. Ramaswamy today disowned his adopted son M.A.M.R. Muthiah in the latest episode of Chennai's Chettinad feud that unfolded in a dining room where the Duke of Edinburgh was once hosted.
Ramaswamy, who lost control of the Rs 10,000-crore turnover Chettinad group to his adopted son but is said to have personal assets worth over Rs 1,200 crore, added that "he (Muthiah) should not perform any rituals after my death" and refused to give him any share of his property.
"I have disowned him. I don't wish to call him my son. Whatever the law may be, he is no more my son. He can be only Ayyappan and not M.A.M.R. Muthiah," the patriarch of the Chettinad family told a news conference at the dining hall where his father Raja Muthiah had once hosted the duke.
Ramaswamy had last month accused Muthiah, formerly Ayyappan, of trying to usurp the Chettinad house, located on a 10-acre plot along the Adyar river.
The 84-year-old industrialist has spurned recent attempts by Muthiah for a rapprochement, saying "he has no bonafide intention or sincerity".
"There is no question of any rapprochement. He should not perform any rituals after my death," Ramaswamy said, flanked by cousin A.C. Muthiah and his lawyer.
Ramaswamy, a former Rajya Sabha member, told reporters today that he had transferred some of his properties to two trusts. "I have decided that not a single penny will go to him (Muthiah) or anyone on his behalf. Every bit of what is left with me will go to charity, for which I have formed the trusts," Ramaswamy said.
"My wife and I believed he would take care of us when we grow old and would preserve the family reputation. But I was disappointed," he added.
Asked about the root of friction with his adopted son, Ramaswamy said while he believed in philanthropy, "Ayyappan was exactly the opposite". "No one has ever seen him taking his wallet out."
Pointed out that Ayyappan, after his adoption in 1996, took active control of the Chettinad group of companies and managed to increase the annual turnover of Chettinad Cements from Rs 600 crore to Rs 4,000 crore, Ramaswamy asked: "What was the price of cement then and what is it now? So what is the surprise in the value going up?"
Ramaswamy said he had been conducting his family business "without any problem" before Ayyappan took control.
"I may not be an MBA but my father and uncle have groomed me in business," he said, and listed the properties his forefathers owned and the industries they started.
The family feud in the Chettinad group, which deals in cements, hospitality and education among others, came to the fore recently after Ramaswamy was not elected as a director in the Chettinad Cement Corporation, the group's flagship, last year.
On May 23 this year, 14 alleged aides of an assistant of Ramaswamy were arrested for locking a room belonging to Muthiah.
Ramaswamy today accused Muthiah and his wife Geetha of violating various provisions of the Companies Act. "Chettinad Cements alone owes hundreds of crores as sales tax arrears to the state government," he said.
Ramaswamy's cousin A.C. Muthiah said that Ayyappan's adoption was not valid according to the Nagarathar (a mercantile community that follows Shaivism) tradition as he belonged to a different temple.
"Ayyappan has lost all respect in our community because of the way he treated his old parents," said A.C. Muthiah, the chairman-emeritus of Southern Petrochemical Industries Ltd (Spic) and a former BCCI president.
