CB-CID arrests 2 sub-registrars in OSR land scam

CHENNAI: CB-CID on Saturday arrested three persons, including two sub-registrars, in connection with a scam in which Rs 21.08 crore was paid to acquire 16.64 acres of open space reservation (OSR) land for expanding the SIPCOT industrial park in Sriperumbudur.

The CB-CID police team apprehended Sub-registrar – Joint-2 in Kancheepuram Ravi, (56), and Sriperumbudur sub-registrar, Suresh, (57), and another person, Rajesh, (49), for being part of the scam.

Police said that investigations are underway against eight other persons, including a district revenue officer (DRO), Tahsildar, land surveyor among others.

CB-CID probe into the case began based on directions from Madras High Court, which was hearing a petition from two persons seeking compensation for the lands acquired in 2019 for the expansion of Sipcot in Sriperumbudur.

The court learnt that about 5.1 acres of land parcels acquired near Sriperumbudur in the Kancheepuram district were OSR lands belonging to the Nemili panchayat and that NHAI had paid around Rs 300 crore as compensation to various people who had fraudulently claimed ownership.

The lands were fraudulently transferred to these individuals in 2018, just months before they claimed and received compensation from NHAI.

Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan had found some discrepancies in the affidavit and directed the CB-CID to probe further.

Inquiries revealed that a land promoter gifted about 16.64 acres of OSR land in Vallam in 1991 and Vadagal villages to the Sriperumbudur Block Development Office (BDO). The OSR land was earmarked for a park, road, water tank and other public utilities.

However, in 2020, a top official from the land promoter company cancelled the gift deed at the Pallipattu sub-register office allegedly by producing fake documents. The properties were then sold to four other people.

The CB-CID police booked 11 people under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) 465 (forgery), 420 (cheating), 468 (Forgery), 471 (use of forged document) and 34 (Several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.