Former DMK Minister held in land grab case

In the continuing crackdown by All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam government on land grabbing, former Transport Minister and senior Dravida Munetra Kazhagam leader K N Nehru and two others were arrested in Tiruchirappalli on Thursday, while another functionary was taken into custody in Coimbatore.

Nehru, DMK Tiruchirappalli district secretary, Anbil Periyasamy, a former MLA, and textile businessman Sundararaju, have been remanded to judicial custody here for 15  days.

he former Minister, known to be a loyalist of DMK Treasurer M K Stalin, told the Judicial Magistrate that it was a false case and the arrests were being made as the local  body elections were due to be held and DMK was in a strong position in Tiruchirappalli district.

Nehru becomes the third minister in the previous DMK regime to be taken into custody in the continuing crackdown by the AIADMK government on land grabbing. The other two being Veerapandi S Arumugam and N K K P Raja.

Criticising the arrests of his partymen, DMK President and former Chief Minister M Karunandidhi said it reminded him of the Emergency days.

Coimbatore DMK City District secretary, M Veeragopal was also arrested on Thursday in connection with a land grabbing case there.

Acting on a complaint of land grabbing in Kovilpalayam station limits on the outskirts, Veeragopal was arrested around 4 am from his house, police said.

Nehru said the complainant Srinivasan, who had charged him with grabbing the land from him for construction of the DMK party office had conducted the marriage of his son there.

When the office was declared open, the complainant had also told Karunanidhi that he had given the land for construction of the office, he claimed. According to the complainant, Nehru had allegedly taken 13290 sqft of land at Chinthamani in Tiruchi district for the construction of the DMK party office by forcibly obtaining his signature and "misusing" his official power.

His aged father had also been beaten up badly in the process, Police Commissioner Masanamuthu, quoting the complaint, told mediapersons.       

Besides the three who were remanded to custody, eight others, including the former Minister's brother Ramajayam, Tiruchi Deputy Mayor Anbhazhagan(now absconding),  were also allegedly involved in the case ,police said.

The crackdown is the result of an electoral promise made by Jayalalithaa during the April 13 Assembly polls that she would take action against land grabbing during DMK rule.  

Chepauk constituency member of legislative assembly J Anbazhagan, former MLA Ranganathan, his aide, and supporters of Union Minister M K Alagiri, have already been arrested in connection with land grab charges.