State investigating market manager’s husband’s ties

Court records indicate past child assault convictions

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission is investigating the former E-Z Mart once again, regarding the connection the husband of the store manager has to the business. The convenience store, located in Union Square, lost its liquor license in May, after a police investigation revealed the store had been selling alcohol to minors. At the hearing, Malaiperumal Sundaramurthy appeared before the commission as the owner of the store and said the finding was unfair because it was the first report of alcohol being sold to minors. At the meeting in May, Sgt. Guy Bibeau said he did not think it was an isolated incident and that the police had been looking into the store’s selling of alcohol to minors for some time. According to public records in Gardner District Court, Mr. Sundaramurthy has twice been convicted of indecent assault and battery on a person younger than 14. The most recent case occurred in 2001. According to state law, package store licenses cannot be granted to anyone convicted of a felony. The records, the majority of which have been impounded, said that the original terms of Mr. Sundaramurthy’s probation allowed him to have unsupervised contact with people under 18 as long as it was while he was at work. However, in September 2007, Judge Patrick Fox found him guilty of violating probation when he reportedly made a 17-year-old girl uncomfortable when he spoke to her in his convenience store. Following that incident, Mr. Sundaramurthy is now on probation until November 2011, and is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18, excluding family. At the following meeting, a lawyer representing the owner presented the commission with a letter showing that the E-Z Mart had appealed the city’s revocation decision to the state commission, which had recommended the local commission return the license. However, the commission decided to continue the finding because they felt there were too many questions about who actually owned the store. The meeting Tuesday was the second consecutive meeting where the commission has postponed making a decision, because they wanted to give the commission the chance to finish their new investigation into the ownership of the store, this time at the request of Sgt. Guy Bibeau. Mr. Sundaramurthy’s wife, Shanthy Sundaramurthy, appeared at the meeting Tuesday and said she was the owner of the store, and the man currently operating it is someone she hired to manage it. Ms. Sundaramurthy said she was upset that the commission was taking so long to make a decision. “I am the owner. I am very busy, and I don’t want to come to meeting after meeting,” said Ms. Sundaramurthy. “People come here all the time to argue the license. All I want to know is, are you going to give me the license or not?” Although Mr. Sundaramurthy’s name is not listed on paperwork filed with the Liquor License Commission, Sgt. Bibeau said he has his doubts about who owns the store at the meeting Tuesday. “He said his wife ran the place and I personally don’t believe that, so we are checking it out,” said Sgt. Bibeau. “We sent them our paperwork because there was so much confusion at the last meeting and she said she is going to be looking into their paperwork from day one to see if he signed anything. And they will take it from there.” oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 10/17/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 246)