Owners dead, land usurped

MADURAI: The Madurai police on Thursday said they busted two groups of land grabbers, who used similar modus operandi to illegally take over properties belonging to deceased owners. According to police, six persons were arrested and over 3.66 acres of land worth Rs1.8 crore recovered. Both the groups had used the tactic of impersonating dead land owners and creating false papers to grab the lands. While one group had cheated an NRI living in the US by selling the land belonging to his father, the other case was reported only 17 years after the incident. Dhananjayan, father of Giridhar Manik, who lives in the US, owned 3.33 acres in Parambupatti. Dhananjayan passed away in 2009. Soon three persons — Ganesan of Kamarajapuram, his son Jayakumar and M R  Ramesh—who worked as real estate brokers, claimed ownership to the land. Later this year, Ramesh sold the land to one Ramakrishnan for `83 lakh while the original price was estimated at Rs 1.5 crore. Waking up to the fraud, Manik flew down from the US and lodged a complaint with the Madurai police. Ganesan and Jayakumar were arrested and police are on the lookout for other culprits. Similarly, four others were arrested for having impersonated a dead person to take over his land in Thirumangalam way back in 1994.  Perumal of Pazhanganatham had 33 cents in Thirumangalam Senkulam village when he died in 1988. Realising that the owner had died, three members - Thavamani, Surulimuthu and Raju - in 1994 impersonated as the deceased landowner and forged documents to grab the land.  The trio were subsequently held based on a complaint.  In October, the district police had arrested 18 land grabbers and retrieved 49 acres worth Rs 6 crore.