PUDUCHERRY: A Sureshraj, Director of the Puducherry Department of Information and Publicity, was arrested on Saturday by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing in connection with the fraudulent transfer of land belonging to the Kamatchiamman Temple.
The multi-crore scam involves the alleged misappropriation of temple-owned land, valued at over Rs 12 crore by guideline estimation (and up to Rs 50 crore in market value), through forged documents. A land extent of approximately 64,035 square feet in a prime area in Rainbow Nagar was sold using fake will and various forged documents.
The key arrests span private conspirators and senior government officials who allegedly facilitated the fraudulent patta (land ownership document) transfers. Arrested persons include MS Ramesh, former director of survey, settlement and land records (who also held additional charge as District Registrar), D Balaji, former director of fisheries and former revenue official, who was arrested for illegally updating the patta under the name of one of the prime accused using a fraudulent will. V Sivasamy, sub-registrar of Villianur Taluk, Chinnasamy (alias Palani), a former village administrative officer (VAO), for his assistance in generating fake local clearance records.
Investigators said Sureshraj was serving as a sub-registrar in the registration office in Oulgaret when the offences took place. He is accused of permitting the registration without verifying the fraudulent documents. Following his arrest, Sureshraj was produced before Puducherry CJM TV Anand at the judge’s residence and was remanded in judicial custody in Kalapet Central Prison on Saturday night. He has since been released on bail.