CBI registers two land grabbing cases; Chandy's fmr gunman

CBI has registered two cases in connection with Rs 475-crore land grabbing allegations in Kochi and Trivandrum, naming Salimraj, a former gunman of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in one of them as an accused.
"CBI has registered two cases on the directions of the Kerala High Court...Relating to alleged multi-crore land fraud at Kochi and Trivandrum (Kerala)," CBI spokesperson said here today.
The agency has registered the first case under IPC sections related to cheating and forgery against the then two village officers--both of Revenue Department--and three other persons on the allegations that the accused persons indulged in land-grabbing, cheating and forgery to the tune of about Rs 25 crores, the official said.

"It was alleged that the accused persons criminally conspired with each other and prepared false, forged and fabricated documents of the properties of the complainant's family with an intention to misappropriate his ancestral land measuring 116 cents at Pathadipalam, Thrikkakara North village, Ernakulam (Kerala) to the cost of Rs. 25 crores (approx)," CBI said.
It is also alleged that his family was having enmity with the accused persons and a number of civil and criminal cases were pending in various courts and police station.
In the second case, the agency has named Salimraj as an accused along with 26 others which included six public servants.

"It has been alleged in the FIR that the accused persons had conspired to grab private land in Kadakampally village measuring about 44 acres at a cost of Rs 450 crores (approx) by fabricating and manipulating revenue records of Kadakampally village (Kerala)," the spokesperson said.
The official said the accused persons allegedly entered into illegal transactions, including mutations in the records of the village office, and deprived the legal title-holders of the land of their possession and ownership.