Chilavannur Lake encroachment: actor Jayasurya, 3 others asked to appear before court

He had allegedly constructed a building, a compound wall, and a boat jetty on encroached land

The Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court has issued summons to all four accused, including actor Jayasurya, who have been chargesheeted by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in a case related to the alleged encroachment of Chilavannur Lake at Kadavanthra.

They have been asked to appear before the court on December 29. K.P. Ramachandran Nair and P.G. Girija Devi, former Building Inspector and Assistant Executive Engineer respectively at the zonal office of the Kochi Corporation in Vyttila are the first and second accused. George, the architect of the actor’s house, is the fourth accused. Jayasurya is the third accused.

VACB had filed the chargesheet and final report last month. The chargesheet had exempted Raju and N.M. George, former Secretary and former Assistant Executive Engineer of Kochi Corporation respectively from the list of accused. The prosecution sanction order issued by Rajan M.V., the Chief Engineer of the Local Self-Government department and Biju Prabhakar, Secretary of the Local Self-Government department, against the first and the second accused respectively were also submitted by VACB along with the final report.

The VACB case was that the first and second accused colluded with Jayasurya and his architect and in furtherance of criminal conspiracy, issued building permit and occupancy certificate, thus facilitating encroachment and illegal construction on puramboke land. This amounted to violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification and the Kerala Municipality Building Rules.

The illegal act brought pecuniary advantage to Jayasurya with the assistance of the architect. Thus, the accused committed offences under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code.

Jayasurya had constructed a building encroaching the puramboke land, a compound wall on Kayal puramboke, and a boat jetty encroaching up on a portion of Kochi backwaters. The encroached portion and surroundings come under the Coastal Regulation Zone 1 in Chilavannur Kayal, which forms part of the Vembanad backwaters, the chargesheet read.

According to VACB, Girija Devi issued building permit and occupancy certificate based on the report of Ramachandran without valid Coastal Regulation Zone clearance, which amounted to gross violation of the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification.