The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted almost simultaneous inspections on at least 22 premises in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi as part of its investigation into what has come to be known as the “Kadakampally land-grab case”.
The inspections, widely broadcast on television, apparently evoked much political interest and speculation owing to the alleged involvement of S. Salim Raj, the controversial former personal security officer (PSO) of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
The CBI case was that the accused had attempted to grab 12.27 acres of prime land in Kadakampally village in the capital from its legitimate owners by “quoting non-existent court decrees, falsifying revenue records, and creating fake sales and partition deeds, transfers of registry documents and thandaper accounts” during 2011-13.
The agency was also probing a similar land-grab involving the same set of suspects at Kalamassery in Kochi.
The team that searched the house in Cherthala of a former special village officer of Thrikkakara village found 10 live rounds of .303 rifle ammunition, which were handed over to the police. The accused had served as constable in the State police prior to entering the revenue service.
The CBI handed over the ammunition to the local police, who subsequently booked the official on the charge of illegal possession of lethal ammunition.
em residences of the suspects.
The CBI has also named 26 others as accused in the case, including Salim Raj’s wife, Shamshad, an employee at the Land Revenue Commissioner’s office. The array of accused also included Revenue Department officials.
Its case, registered at the instance of the High Court of Kerala, is that the accused, including certain officials at the Chief Minister’s Office, conspired with some Revenue Department staff to cheat the landowners of their title and possession of the prime land.
Officials said the CBI would record the statements of the victims of the land grab and verify the mobile phone usage patterns of the accused. It would also attempt to find out how the suspects fabricated revenue records and court orders to facilitate the multi-crore fraud.
In the raids, including 12 premises in Kochi, the CBI recovered about 100 documents, some running to over 600 pages.
The searches were undertaken as early as six in the morning and continued through the day. Residences of revenue officials suspected to be involved in the cases and associates of Mr. Salim Raj at Mamangalam, Pathadipalam near Edapally, Aluva, and Cherthala were inspected by the CBI teams.
