Land grabbing: Former DMK minister Nehru's remand extended

The remand of former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam minister, K N Nehru, in prison on land grabbing charges, was remanded here for a further 15 days today following a fresh case of alleged land grabbing filed against him.

Nehru, lodged in the Cuddalore prison on land grabbing charges, was brought before Judicial Magistrate Banu Rekha, who extended his remand for 15 more days, police said. Nehru's remand was extended following a complaint by Karunanidhi of Erode, that Nehru, along with 11 others had allegedly grabbed about 10,000 sq ft of his land near the Tiruchirappalli airport worth Rs 2.5 crore, the police said.

A first information report has been filed against 11 persons in connection with the case, and the former minister is listed as Accused No 1, the police said. Besides Nehru, the FIR was also filed against his brother K N Ramajayam, Tiruchirappalli Deputy Mayor Anbazhagan and eight others, they said.

The remands of Ramajayam and Anbazhagan were already extended on Wednesday following the filing of the complaint, they added.

DMK has already nominated Nehru to contest the October 13 by-election to Tiruchirapalli (west) Assembly seat.

Nehru, the party's Tiruchirappali district secretary and strongman, will be pitted against former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLA M Paranjothi.

In the April 13 assembly elections, Nehru had lost to AIADMK minister Mariam Pitchai, whose death in a road accident on May 23 necessitated the by-poll. Nehru is one of the four former ministers who have been arrested as part of the AIADMK government's crackdown on land grabbing.