CHENNAI/KOCHI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday overturned the anticipatory bail granted to one of the builders of the Maradu flats who has been arraigned in a case related to illegal construction of the flats flouting Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
Cancelling his bail, the court asked Sandeep Mehta M, the managing director of Jain Housing and Constructions Ltd, to surrender before the Crime Branch, which is probing the illegal construction case. The Crime Branch had contested the anticipatory bail granted to Mehta. Tamil Nadu state public prosecutor A Natarajan appeared on Kerala’s behalf in the Madras High Court.
Mehta is the first accused in the case registered by Panangad police on a petition filed by a resident of Jains Coral Cove, one of the four to-be demolished apartment complexes in Maradu. He had secured anticipatory bail for four weeks from the Madras High Court.
The Crime Branch team has recorded the statements of 19 out of 22 persons who were members of the then Maradu grama panchayat which had granted permits to the builders to construct the apartment complexes.
The statements of then Maradu panchayat president as well as two women members are yet to be recorded, said Crime Branch officials.