MADURAI: The City Crime Branch-III of Madurai city police on Friday arrested one more person in connection with the alleged fraudulent registration of a trust property endowed for the benefit of the Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, taking the total number of arrests in the case to four.
The latest suspect was identified as B Kalikumar (41) of Sirumalai in Dindigul. Police said Kalikumar was one of the three people in whose favour S Iilayaraja and P Anish registered a mortgage deed in 2021. The other two were Ilaiyaraja’s wife, Kavitha, and R Prakash.
So far, the police have arrested the alleged kingpin behind the registration, S Ilaiyaraja (43), the then Madurai North tahsildar K Anbalagan (59), who had transferred the property in the names of nine people including Ramayee Aayiyar of Karambakudi; and V Rajkumar (63), who was among the nine people in whose names the property was transferred in 2016.
According to sources, a case was registered against 19 persons, including former and serving government officials, over the alleged fraudulent transfer and registration of 1.79 acres belonging to the Pudukkottai Rajakumarar Dakshanamoorthy Durairaja Durairani Trust in 2016.
Though the transfer was subsequently cancelled, the suspects allegedly concealed the facts and executed a power of attorney in favour of two persons at the Murappanadu Sub-Registrar Office in Thoothukudi district in 2021. Later that year, the two persons registered a mortgage deed in favour of three persons.