The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Vakkom's land purchase: Vigilance submits report

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Thursday, Nov 16, 2006
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Vakkom's land purchase: Vigilance submits report

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Wednesday submitted a report before the Vigilance court recommending a Registration department inquiry to find out whether there has been any stamp duty evasion in the purchase of land by relatives of the former Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman in Vattappara village during the November 2004-July 2005 period.

In early September, the Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge had directed the VACB to investigate into the allegation that the former Minister's relatives had bought 23 plots of land on the outskirts of the city and evaded paying the actual stamp duty by deliberately undervaluing the land price. The land was bought in the name of Mr. Purushothaman's sons, Biju Purushothaman and Binu Purshothaman, and Rajagopal, his son-in-law.

The VACB submitted before the court that it was not the competent agency for assessing the market value of land.

The VACB found that the Sub-Registrar, Karakulam, had sent a note to the District Registrar in 2005 stating that he suspected serious evasion of stamp duty in the purchase of 40 plots of land in Vattappara, including 19 out of the 23 properties purchased by Mr Purushothaman's relatives. The agency found that none of the properties had been purchased in Mr. Purushothaman's name. The total cost of the land, as per Registration venue records, was Rs.42 lakh.

The buyers told the VACB that they had sold a property in Chennai worth Rs.45 lakh and used the money for buying the land in Vattappara.

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