The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday named S. Salim Raj, former personal security officer (PSO) of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, as one of the main accused in the criminal case relating to the alleged attempt to grab 12.27 acres of 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 and thandaper accounts” during 2011-13.
The CBI has named 26 others as accused in the case, including Salim Raj’s wife, Shamshad, an employee of the Land Revenue Commissioner’s office.
Its case, registered at the instance of the High Court of Kerala, is that the accused, including certain officials in the Chief Minister’s Office, conspired with some Revenue Department staff to cheat the landowners of their title and possession of the prime land.
In furtherance of the conspiracy, the accused created fake sale deeds and ‘thandaper’ register numbers for the property at the Kadakampally village office in the name of a predecessor of theirs, the CBI alleged.
Salim Raj and his associates held multiple meetings with the landowners and pressured them to part with the land and threatened them with dire consequences if they did not yield to their demands.
It was also alleged that “due to the tremendous political influence and abuse of official position by Salim Raj in the office of the Chief Minister of Kerala, the officials concerned had not taken any action whatsoever and not even a case had been registered so far in spite of four complaints lodged against the accused with various authorities, including the police and the Home Minister.”
The CBI said the complaints were of a very serious nature and preliminary evidence suggested the possibility of forgery, fabrication, and falsification of government and court records.
It is also alleged that the accused, with the connivance of Kadakampally village officer P. N. Subramanya Pillai, made another attempt to grab 45.5 acres in the same area, which is currently in the possession of 170 persons, by “reviving and recreating” a “zero” thandaper register at the village office concerned and assigning the lands they aimed to possess to that thandaper account by creating false sale and partition deeds and fictitious court orders.
The offences against the accused included conspiracy, forgery, and use of forged documents as genuine, cheating and common intention. Six of the accused are government servants. The CBI said more persons could figure as accused in the case as its investigation progressed.
Jose Mohan, SP, Special Crime Branch, CBI, Thiruvananthapuram filed the first information report.
