Chennai, Aug 7:
After the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court refused advance bail, the CB-CID wing of the Tamil Nadu police on Thursday arrested Sub Registrar Justin Manikandan Subramanian, cited as the key accused in the alleged fraudulent registration of a Rs 100-crore property belonging to the hilltop Lord Dhandayuthapani Swami Temple in Palani–one of the six abodes of Lord Muruga, located in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu.
A special police team tracked down and nabbed him from a house in the Kodaikanal hills, where he was reportedly hiding, and brought him to the CB-CID office in Dindigul for inquiry.
The arrest comes a day after Mr Justice K. Rajasekar of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea, observing that granting bail at this stage would hamper the ongoing investigation. The court also cited documentary evidence submitted by the prosecution, while rejecting the petitions filed by Justin Manikandan and co-accused Jayaprakash.
According to CB-CID officials, Justin Manikandan allegedly colluded with Jayaprakash and advocate Anwardeen in executing the fraudulent registration of the disputed property.
Police teams also conducted searches at Jayaprakash’s residence in Oddanchatram in the district. Eight persons, including his wife Senbagamathi, were brought to Dindigul from Palani for questioning as part of efforts to trace his whereabouts and identify associates linked to the case.
Investigations revealed that the then Sub-Registrar, Balasundar, had recorded in the minutes book that the temple authorities had filed a writ appeal challenging the court order directing the registration of the document. Despite this, Justin Manikandan allegedly went ahead and completed the registration process by assigning a document number and sold the temple land to two private individuals.
The case was initially registered by the Palani Adivaram (foothills) police against Justin Manikandan, school teacher Murugadas (56) of Villupuram, and others. It was later transferred to the CB-CID, which expanded the probe and named 11 accused, including the Sub-Registrar.
Earlier, the CB-CID two weeks after taking over the probe had on July 29 arrested four people–D Murugadas (56) of VIllupuram, who had sold the land, and K Velladurai (60) of Tiruppur and D Sethupathi, who have purchased the land and S.Anwardeen (65) of Palani, who had facilitated the deal. The quartet were arrested on various sections of the BNS Act including cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and abetment.
The arrests coincided with former Former Palani legislator K.S.N.Venugopalu Senapathi of AIADMK, who is also a former Trustee of the temple, filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking to order a CBI probe into the fraudulent registration of the Rs 100 crore land belonging to the Palai temple Mutt. Another plea, also seeking a CBI probe, was filed by Palani Municipal chairperson R. Uma Maheshwari Pradeep.
On Wednesday, the Dindigul Judicial Magistrate-I Court granted the CB-CID three days’ police custody of the four accused for further interrogation. They were subsequently brought to Dindigul for detailed questioning as the investigation continues to widen.
The case was that a 1.4 acre land parcel, worth Rs 100 crore, belonging to the Dhandayudapani Swami Mutt in Palani has been fraudulently registered in the name of two private individuals. Officials of the HR&CE department have written to the registration department to annul the registration and have ordered an inquiry.
According to sources, the land, located at the foothills, belonged to the Mutt and was currently being used as a parking lot for devotees visiting the temple.