TIRUVANNAMALAI: An inquiry team led by Cheyyar sub collector Pallavi Varma started an investigation into the complaint of destruction of crop cultivated by SC/ST community members on panchami land, allegedly by caste Hindus, using drones. Following complaints, the police registered FIRs against both the groups. Against the caste Hindu individuals, the SC/ST Act has been invoked on Tuesday night, police sources confirmed.
The probe follows a directive issued by Tiruvannamalai Collector K Tharpagaraj to conduct a thorough inquiry into the complaints raised by both sides into the incident that allegedly happened on February 11.
Speaking to TNIE, Pallavi Varma said, “We have already completed the inquiry from the revenue side. However, we are now investigating the complaints lodged by both parties.”
The dispute centres around a complaint filed by M Sukumar, M Thilakaraj, and V Annamalai.
Thilagaraj claimed the disputed land was originally allotted to his grandfather by the British government. He said he had been cultivating the land for the past six months after successfully contesting an alleged fraudulent transfer of the land’s patta.
Citing an order issued in June 6, 2024, Pallavi Varma said the land is a poramboke land as Arumugam, grandfather of one of the complaints, a Dalit, sold his property to a person belonging to a caste Hindu community in 1998. Since the land reserved for the SCs has been given to a caste Hindu, there has been a violation of the land transfer condition of the Panchami land. Since then, the land has been passed on to different communities, the record shows. It also reveals both the parties have violated the order.
The order said the patta of the land should be cancelled as the laws of inheritance do not apply in the case. The changes in the patta were made based on the registration documents, in which the rules were violated. So the land should be taken back by the government and declared as poramboke, the order said.
However, the SC community allegedly continued cultivating on the land, claiming it as Panchami land while the caste Hindus asserted their inheritance right over it.
Based on the settlement office records for the year 1923, seven acres of land in the village at North Arcot district has been reserved for the Adi Dravidars.