Former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Minister N.K.K.P. Raja and Erode Mayor Kumar Murugesh were among the five persons arrested here on Thursday on a charge of land grabbing.
The party's district deputy secretary O.C. Viswanathan, his son O.C. Rajendran and V.C. Balasubramaniam were the others arrested in connection with the case. Police are searching for seven others allegedly involved in the case.
A team of personnel from the District Crime Branch (DCB) arrested Mr. Raja from his residence at Kavunthapadi early morning.
The personnel, who arrived at his residence as early as 2 a.m., had a tough time in entering the house as the DMK leader refused to open the doors, according to the police team. They gained entry only when a section of the media was allowed around 5 am. He was then taken to the DCB office for a preliminary inquiry. A visibly shocked Mr. Raja kept demanding that the police produce adequate documentary evidence of his involvement in the case.
The former Minister, the Mayor and the others were produced before Judicial Magistrate N. Raja at his residence on Periyar Street here. The proceedings to send the arrested to judicial custody were, however, delayed as the police did not produce adequate documents. The magistrate gave the police an hour to produce them. The five were remanded to 15 days' judicial custody and lodged in the Central Prison in Coimbatore.
The arrests were made on the basis of a complaint lodged by P.C. Ramasamy, a resident of Perundurai.
In his complaint to the Land Grab Cell, Mr. Ramasamy alleged that the former Minister, the Mayor and the others helped Chenniyappa Gounder, a resident of Velampalayam, and his two sons to take forceful possession of his two acres of prime land in Perundurai in 2007. The current market value of the land was estimated to be around Rs. 6 crore. The petitioner claimed that Mr. Raja and other DMK functionaries threatened him and his family members and forced them to sign on the land documents.
Mr. Ramasamy also alleged that over 100 persons, led by Mr. Viswanathan, got into the property on March 2007 and felled 80 coconut trees and levelled the site using earthmovers. Police sources said the land was later sold to a close associate of Mr. Raja.
Those arrested on Thursday and the seven others whom the police were searching for were charged under Sections 120 b (conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) , 471(using as genuine a forged document), 387 (putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) of Indian Penal Code, section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act and section 3(1) of the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.
