The Hindu : Front Page : Special cell in Salem to deal with land grabbers

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Sunday, Jun 19, 2011
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Special cell in Salem to deal with land grabbers

Special Correspondent

SALEM: Salem Rural Police have opened an exclusive unit to deal with land grabbing and restore to legal owners lands taken from them forcefully. A Deputy Superintendent of Police will head the cell.

A brainchild of Superintendent of Police N. M. Mylvahanan, the cell, the first of its kind in the State, will concentrate on all complaints related to forceful occupation of lands by unscrupulous elements with powerful political patronage. The rural police right now have six complaints related to land grabbing.

Mr. Mylvahanan said there were many such incidents in the last five years in Salem district . “We need to focus on it. Many rightful owners have been denied their hard-earned and ancestral properties by the land mafia. They need our help, and moral and legal support to get their lands back,” he pointed out.

“The modus operandi of the land grab gang is to approach those who own land at prime spots and insist on them to sell their lands at throwaway prices.

But when the land owners refuse to do so, they will be intimidated. Or else, the land grabbers will forge documents and register them, forcing the land owners to reach a settlement with the gang,” said a police official. The new cell would exclusively deal with land-related issues. It would accept complaints, investigate them and see to it that grabbed lands were restored to the legal owners.

The police have also arrested three persons who forged documents relating to 4.5 acres of land at Rakkipatti village and registered them at the Veerapandi Sub-Registrar's office – all without the knowledge of its rightful owner. Other cases too would be taken up and land grabbers would be brought to book, Mr. Mylvahanan said.

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