Former MLA Manikandan demands CBI probe into land grabbing cases in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry AIADMK unit deputy secretary and former Muthialpet MLA Manikandan has urged the CBI, New Delhi, to probe into the charges of large-scale grabbing of land worth several crores of rupees belonging to French nationals, trusts managing temples and residents in the Union territory.

In a memorandum addressed to the CBI director, Manikandan pointed out that the Puducherry CB-CID sleuths have arrested 13 people including a sub-registrar on charges of grabbing a land belonging to a temple trust worth several crores of rupees.

He said the prime accused in the case - the then registrar and tahsildar - are still absconding. He charged that a ruling party MLA was also involved in the crime.

Manikandan said land belonging to Kamatchiamman Temple was grabbed by land mafia by forging the documents with the help of a few corrupt officials in the administration. The mafia sold the land to a real estate agency, which converted it into several house sites and sold them.

Similarly, a piece of land belonging to Manakula Vinayagar Temple at Villianur was illegally registered as a public pathway by land mafia and converted a nearby parcel of land into 500 house site plots and sold them for more than Rs 100 crore.

Manikandan accused a leader of a party supporting the coalition government of grabbing the property of a woman at Korkadu in Villianur. The woman and her family members attempted suicide by setting themselves on fire on the legislative assembly premises demanding that the government initiate steps against the gang lead by the politician and recover her property.

He alleged that several documents uploaded on the registration department's website have disappeared in the last two years to protect a few leaders of ruling parties and parties which support the government, involved in this crime.

"I would like to point out that a CBI probe only will pave the way for an impartial inquiry without succumbing to the pressure from the politicians and the conspiracies of the rulers. A CBI probe only will bring out the truth. I on behalf of the AIADMK request the CBI to take a firm stance in the land grabbing cases here," said Manikandan.


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