KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday adjourned to December 13 the hearing of a petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged illegal possession of land in Kottakambur village by private parties, including Idukki MP Joice George. According to the petitioner, the land was allegedly grabbed from the members of the Scheduled caste from Kottakambur as well as Vattavada villages in Devikulam taluk by certain people. No impartial investigation is being conducted by the investigation officer as the people involved in the crime have political clout.
One of the accused is the sitting MP from the district. Joice George and his family members, with a dishonest intention, allegedly deceived those belonging to the SC family and obtained a large extent of land by executing sale deed, the petition said.When the petition came up for hearing, counsel for the petitioner informed the court that the report filed by the present investigating officer S Abhilash, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Munnar, was just a repetition of the first report. There was nothing new in the latest report and the state had filed four reports so far in the case, the petitioner submitted.
The state government and counsel for Joice George sought an adjournment and the court granted it.
The court had earlier observed that it was a case wherein economically backward people belonging to the lower strata of the community and members of the Scheduled Caste were deliberately defrauded.
The prosecution case was that the accused had snatched away the land belonging to a woman of the Scheduled Tribe community by forging documents on the basis of a power of attorney obtained by them in 2001 and thereby they had committed criminal conspiracy and cheating.