CHENNAI: Police on Wednesday arrested two private landowners in connection with Chennai-Bengaluru national highway land acquisition scam.
A police officer said Ashish Mehta, 40, of Ashok Nagar in Chennai and K Selvam, 45, of Sriperumbudur acquired government compensation worth Rs 33 crore by using fake documents.
G Radhakrishnan, ex-tahsildar, and assistant settlement officer (ASO) Shanmugham have also been booked for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy in connection with the land scam unearthed by Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Tamil Nadu Commissioner of Land Administration (CLA).
CLA internal documents suggest the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) acquired 2.5 acres of Ashis Mehta’s 7.6 acres at Beemanthangal near Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram district for expanding NH-4 and paid Rs 33 crore as compensation.
During the settlement, NHAI was unaware the land was originally classified as government anadeenam land.
Ashish Mehta with the help of Radhakrishnan and Shanmugam used fake documents to preparing pattas, findings by Bansal suggested.
The Kancheepuram police found Selvam played a key role in registering a portion of the land to a third party.
SP M Sudhakar said, “Ashish Mehta and Selvam have been arrested based on documents seized and statements recorded so far… more arrests can be expected in the due course.” The Kancheepuram collectorate has constituted six special teams to investigate the possibilities of similar fraudulent practices at six other villages in the district.
Preliminary findings revealed 83 pattas were invalid.
Even when their names appeared on their A-register extracts, earlier revenue records suggest they were also government lands.