The inventor of Ramar Bio Fuel, Ramar Pillai, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by a CBI court in a cheating case.

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His associates, R Venudevi, S Chinnasamy, R Rajasegaran and S K Bharat have also been sentenced to the same period and a total fine of Rs 30,000.

In the 1990's a man called Ramar Pillai From Tamil Nadu created headlines after he claimed to have invented a 'herbal petrol'.

His claim had taken the global scientific community storm and created hope for the common man as the herbal fuel which could be used in automobiles was way cheaper than the conventional fuel.

Despite the IIT Madras and Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun rejecting his claims Pillai, a school-dropout went on to setup a company, Ramar Biofuel Private Ltd. and began selling his product through agencies.

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At a time when petrol was being sold at Rs 35 per litre, Ramar Bio Fuel was priced was priced between Rs 10 and Rs 15.

According to the CBI, between 1999 and 2000, Pillai colluded with other people to "Do illegal act mixing of petroleum products like Toluene and Naphtha and to market the same in the name of Ramar Petrol, or Ramar Tamildevi Mooligai Eriporul, as if these were extracted from herbs."

The CBI said the so-called herbal fuel was only a mixture of petroleum products, which also violated the Motor Spirit Speed Diesel Order.

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"Ramar Pillai misrepresented the said facts and sold the same as "herbal fuel" to the public through various sales outlet owners, whom also he cheated by collecting huge amounts as deposits and fuel costs. Thus, Ramar Pillai and his associates earned Rs 2.27 crore by cheating the public," said the CBI.