The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Village panchayat vice chief arrested

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Friday, Jun 15, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Village panchayat vice chief arrested

Staff Reporter

Gnaanamani accused of threatening, abusing government officials

TAMBARAM: Pozhichalur Village Panchayat vice president M. Gnaanamani has been arrested and remanded to judicial custody on charges of threatening and abusing government officials.

Mr. Gnaanamani, a former president of the panchayat and husband of the current panchayat president Varadammal, was arrested following a complaint by officials of the Revenue Department of Kancheepuram district.

The complaint said Gnaanamani threatened and abused them in filthy language when they went to Pozhichalur to remove encroachments from ‘poromboke’ land on May 13.

The officials said a large portion of the ‘thaangal poromboke’ of about 22 acres in Pozhichalur was encroached. Acting on complaints, the revenue officials evicted the encroachers and demolished the unauthorised structures in March this year.

There were about 20 thatched houses and an equal number of unoccupied thatched huts.

When they returned on May 13 to resume evictions, Gnaanamani and his supporters threatened the officials, after which A Village Administrative Officer lodged a complaint with the police.

The encroached land’s market value was worth several crores, the officials said. They said 60 plots were purchased by gullible people at about Rs. 60,000 each, adding this “sale” too would be probed.

Police said Gnaanamani had a role in the mushrooming of encroachments there.

Civic groups lauded the Kancheepuram district administration and local police for their initiative, saying it would send a warning to elected representatives who supported encroachments on water bodies and government property.

However, a section of Gnaanamani’s supporters, who came to the Tambaram court on Thursday, alleged that he had been framed, adding he was not in Pozhichalur on the day of incident, as charged by the police and government officials. Gnaanamani, a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, was arrested by Shankar Nagar police on Wednesday and produced before the Judicial Magistrate Tambaram, S. Murugesan, who sentenced him to 15 days judicial custody on Thursday.

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