The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday indicted five persons for fraud in the Kadakampally land grab case.
Importantly, it has cleared Salim Raj, the personal security officer of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, of all charges in the case. The case had evoked much political interest in 2014-15 because Salim Raj’s name was linked to the scam initially.
The five accused were A. Nizar Ahmed, Suhara Beevi, Muhammad Karim and Rukiya Beevi, all members of a family hailing from Thiruvananthapuram, and Vidyodaya Kumar, former Deputy Tahsildar.
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The other charges include conspiracy, cheating, forgery, use of forged documents as genuine, and corruption.
The CBI’s case was that the suspects had “illegally alienated” 15.88.636 acres of prime land at Kadakampally in the capital that was under the legitimate ownership of 188 persons.
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The suspected rip-off occurred in 2005. The CBI said the suspects manipulated entries in the original title deed register to “fraudulently and dishonestly” claim that the land was owned by their father Abdul Rehman Kunju. They also forged a court decree to show that the land was assigned to Kunju in 1965 as part of the settlement of an original civil suit and since, the property was held in his name in “Thandaper number 1602.”
The CBI said its probe had revealed that the “Thandaper 1602” was fraudulently created by the accused in the name of their father Kunju for the purpose of illegal sale. The con came to light after the suspects “sold” two acres of land owned by others to a realtor in 2008. The 188 owners also found that they could not remit tax for the property they owned because it had been “illegally alienated” by the suspects.