KOCHI:The Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court has accepted the closure reports filed by the CBI in three cases related to alleged fraud by owners of estates in Nelliyampathy, by availing bank loan against land leased from the government.
Chief Judicial Magistrate K S Ambika conducted a hearing before deciding to give nod for closing probe into the cases.
The CBI had filed closure reports in the cases registered against Smitha Mount Estate, Brookland Estate and Lekshmi Estate. Subsequently, the court heard from the CBI counsel and decided to accept the closure report.
The CBI probe revealed that the accused persons mortgaged the leasehold rights of 76 acres of Lekshmi Estate, which they took possession through registered assignment deeds. Similarly, in the case of Brookland estate, the CBI concluded that when the land was pledged, it was clearly a cultivated land and that the accused did not cheat the bank. The accused did not submit any forged document to pledge the land with the bank. In the case against Smitha Mount Estate, the CBI investigation found that loan was granted on the basis of documents related to the lease agreement, and that the accused person did not forge any document to avail the loan.
The cases were registered under Sections 120(B), 420, 447, 465, 468, 471, 421 and 167 of the IPC. The CBI has been investigating a total of six graft cases against owners of various estates in Nelliyampathy for similar offences. The CBI has so far filed closure reports in four cases.
In December 2014, the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate had accepted the closure report in a case against Miraflores Estate.