Land grab: Ex-DMK minister Suresh Rajan held

NAGERCOIL: Seven DMK functionaries, including former tourism minister Suresh Rajan, have been booked in connection with a land grab case by the Vadasery police in Nagercoil on Friday.Daya Backiya Singh (31) of Thomson Street in Nagercoil had entered into an agreement with district panchayat president and DMK functionary D Ajitha Mano Than­ga­raj to purchase around 10 acres and 43 cents of land belonging to Ajitha. After paying Ajitha around Rs 60 lakh, Singh found, while surveying the land, that around 6.5 acres of the plot came under the Preservation of Private Forests Act. But Ajitha had promised Singh that she would get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the government for that particular portion of land and asked Singh to remit the rest of the money after that. In the meantime, she registered the power of attorney of the remaining three acres and nine cents of land to Singh’s father’s (on May 20, 2010, document no: 79/BK4/2010) and later the land was transferred to Singh (on May 21, 2010, document no: 1660/2010). “But without getting the NOC, Ajitha asked Singh to remit the remaining amount but Singh refused to pay the amount,” said Singh’s advocate S Girinivasa Prasad.“Meanwhile, former minister Suresh Rajan, DMK functionary G M Shaw and some others called me for a kangaroo court and tried to sway the case in favour of Ajitha. As I refused to obey their orders, on instructions of Suresh Rajan, the group  with the help of Thuckalay sub-registrar, prepared forged documents and registered the land which Ajitha had sold to me to Ajitha’s PA’s name (document no:2636/2010 on June 20, 2010,” Singh told Express.After the group reportedly tried to sell that plot to others with the forged documents, Singh lodged a complaint with the Vadasery police this August 16. When they refused to accept the complaint, he approached the magistrate court, which ordered the police to take action and file an FIR in this regard. Therefore, an FIR was filed at the Vadasery police station against seven persons, including Ajitha, Rajan and Shaw, under nine sections of the IPC.