19 booked for illegally registering land belonging to Tamil Nadu's Meenakshi temple

MADURAI: The Madurai city central crime branch (CCB) has registered a criminal case against 19 people, including two former revenue officials, two sub-registrars and several individuals, over the alleged fraudulent transfer and registration of a valuable endowment property belonging to the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.The FIR was registered on July 25 under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC based on a complaint filed by K Chelladurai, joint commissioner and executive officer of the temple.According to the FIR, the disputed property at Chokkikulam was bequeathed to the temple through a will dated 1930 executed by T M Durairani, wife of Pudukottai king T M Durairaja, to fund religious rituals, charity and scholarships. Temple authorities alleged that despite the property’s status as a temple endowment, the temple’s title was illegally removed from revenue records, and patta was transferred to private individuals in 2016.The accused named in the FIR include former VAO Arasan, former tahsildar Anbalagan, Murappanadu sub-registrar Anantharaman, Vadamadurai sub-registrar Prasanth Santhana Karuppan, and individuals including Ramayee Aayiyar, Senthamil Selvi, Prema, Rajkumar, Muthurani, Rajendran, Kuzhanthaiya, Pushbaraj, Jothi, Geetha, S Ilayaraja, P Anish, Kavitha, Prakash and Kalikumar.The complaint alleged that while ownership disputes were pending before revenue authorities and despite court proceedings relating to the property, power-of-attorney and mortgage documents were registered in 2021 through the Murappanadu and Vadamadurai sub-registrar offices. Temple authorities claimed the transactions were carried out by suppressing material facts and in violation of statutory provisions and court orders.A senior police officer confirmed to TOI that the FIR was registered on Saturday (July 25) and said that the CCB has taken up further investigation. No arrests have been reported so far, the official added.

Initially, Arappor Iyakkam flagged the issue, based on which action was taken and initiated by the HR&CE department.HR&CE minister S Ramesh said that “if complaints about such frauds are lodged, strict action would be taken on them.”