Causing further embarrassment to beleaguered Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the CBI has filed an FIR in the sensational Kadakampally land fraud case stating that his former gunman Salim Raj, main perpetrator of the fraud, had misused his position and officials in the Chief Minister's office had conspired to usurp lands which originally belonged to others.
listing Salim Raj and his wife Shamshad, an official in the Revenue Department, as the 21st and 22nd accused respectively in the case with a total of 27 accused, the CBI said in the FIR that officials in the Chief Minister's office and Department of Revenue had conspired for the land fraud and the links of the accused with powerful people had blocked effective investigation.
The accused persons listed in the FIR filed before the Special CBI Court in Thiruvananthapuram also include four Village Officers of Kadakampally and Uliyarathuzha in the State's capital district. Though the State's Vigilance bureau had first probed the case, it was handed over to the CBI by the Kerala High Court on March 28.
The CBI's FIR pertains to the complaint that Salim Raj and his associates had usurped 12.27 acres of land in Kadakampally in Thiruvananthapuram using fake documents and threats. The real extent of the fraud by Salim Raj and others is much larger as it relates to the usurpation of a total of 44.5 acres of land in Kadakampally valued approximately at `450 crore.The FIR filed by the agency in the Special CBI Court pointed out that though complaints had been lodged with the police and the Home Minister against Salim Raj over the fraud, nothing was done on them because of the connections of the accused with influential people. The agency said that Salim Raj had connections that helped him keep the fraud victims silent.The CBI said in the FIR that Salim Raj and the other accused had issued threats to the original owners of the land in Kadakampally whenever they wanted to complain. The agency has charged the accused with criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery. They have also been charged as per provisions of the anti-corruption law.
Salim Raj, who allegedly used to be one of the most powerful men in the State Secretariat because of his proximity to the Chief Minister and his family, was expelled from his staff along with a personal assistant, Tenny Joppen, in June last after it was proved that he was in regular contact with con woman Saritha S Nair, chief perpetrator of the solar scam.
Salim Raj was also involved in another land fraud in Kalamassery near Kochi, the probe into which also has been handed over to the CBI. However, Salim Raj's name does not appear in the FIR pertaining to the Kalamassery land case but sources said that he could be listed as an accused as the probe progressed.Handing over the probe into the Kadakampally and Kalamassery land fraud cases to the CBI on March 28, Justice Haroon Al Rashid of the High Court had made some scathing observations against Chandy saying that he had not shown the alertness required of him while appointing members of his personal staff.
Justice Rashid had then pointed out that there had been such a situation where the Government was forced to expel aides of Chandy in connection with the solar scam. Pointing out that the land frauds committed by Salim Raj were a serious matter, the judge had described him as "the land mafia gang leader" in the Chief Minister's office.