Headlines
Chandy's ex-gunman, nine others arrested for usurping land
Thiruvananthapuram, June 3
The CBI on
Wednesday arrested Salim Raj, the former gunman of Kerala Chief Minister
Oommen Chandy, and nine others on charges of usurping land at two
places in the state.
Six people were arrested from state capital
Thiruvananthapuram and are related to Raj, while three revenue
department officials were arrested from Kochi.
The arrested
people allegedly tried to usurp about 45 acres of land in the capital,
and around 1.16 acres in Kochi. The total value of the land is around
Rs.400 crore.
After their arrest, they were taken for a medical
check-up and later produced before a CBI court here and sent to the
probe agency's custody.
The CBI had decided to take up the case in March last year following a private complaint and after a state government request.
The issue was also raised in the Kerala assembly last year.
Chandy
had then said the case had first come up in 2007 when V.S.
Achuthanandan was the chief minister, and after a police probe, they
closed the case saying there was nothing criminal in nature, and was
just a civil case.
Kerala Police constable Raj was Chandy's
gunman but was removed from the security job in 2013 after it was
alleged that he had close contacts with Saritha Nair, one of the key
accused in the infamous solar scam.
Raj's wife, who works in the revenue department, has also been arraigned and is one of the 27 accused in the land usurping case.
Reacting to the arrest, state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran said there was nothing unusual in it.
"What happened today was the law taking its course and nothing more needs to be looked into it," said Sudheeran.