The investigation into donation theft in Ram temple of Ayodhya is going on, meanwhile, cases of similar scams and thefts have come to light from many other temples of the country. Action is also being taken on this. But now another case of fraud related to temple land has come to light in which the valuable land of a monastery belonging to a prestigious temple in Tamil Nadu was fraudulently registered. Seeing the resentment of the general public, an inquiry was ordered in the government and more than 80 people were interrogated.
Officials said on Wednesday that CB-CID has arrested three people in connection with the alleged fraudulent registration of valuable land of a monastery associated with the famous Palani Murugan temple in Dindigul city of Tamil Nadu. These arrests are a major success in this high-profile case related to a 1.4-acre plot located in the foothills near the temple.
Price 100 crores, registration for 2 crores
The property, which is currently being used as free parking for devotees and was valued at more than Rs 100 crore in the market, was fraudulently registered in the name of a private person for just Rs 2 crore earlier this month.
This fraudulent transaction was done on July 6, whereas a Permanent Endowment Deed of 1888 exists, in which this land was dedicated only for religious and charitable purposes and any kind of commercial sale or transfer on it was prohibited. The clear, written objections of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department were also not taken into account during registration.
The blame fell on the registration officers
The state government has already suspended Palani Joint Sub-Registrar Justin Manikandan and District Registrar Sasikala for carrying forward the illegal registration process. Manikandan, who is currently out on interim anticipatory bail granted by the Madras High Court, was recently interrogated for 7 hours by the CB-CID team.
Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has already intervened in this case and declared the disputed sale deed invalid.
There was a lot of anger among the public and political circles regarding wrongful registration of land. Seeing the anger of the people, the Director General of Police of the state had recently handed over the investigation of the case to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) on July 15.
As part of the ongoing investigation, investigators have questioned more than 80 people, including former temple officials, retired revenue officials and registration department employees, to unearth the large network involved in the scam.
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