M K Alagiri, former Union Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals, who is also the elder son of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, has been booked by the Madurai Police in a case of land grabbing.
According to Madurai District Police, an Assistant Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board has filed a complaint with the police alleging that Alagiri grabbed 44 cents of land belonging to Goddess Mariamman Temple at Sivarakottai for Dhaya College of Engineering owned by the family members of the former Minister.
The police registered a case of land grabbing against Alagiri following the complaint. HRCE is the Government body which controls all the Hindu temples in the State.
Though the Dhaya College of Engineering was given recognition by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) as early as 2011, it took the college more than three years and a Supreme Court verdict to begin the admission process. The college had started its admission process based on the merit list of the Anna University on August 14 this year.
Previous attempts by the college to get going proved futile as the Anna University had rejected the applications for affiliation submitted by the college. Various farmers’ organisations in Madurai had complained that the college had trespassed into water bodies in the area thus depriving water for farm lands.