States » SouthPosted at: Oct 27 2026 4:27PM


TN CB-CID police files charge sheet in Rs 100 cr Palani temple land fraud row in 90 days

Chennai, Oct 27 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Crime Branch-CID police, whch probed the Rs 100 crore Palani temple land row, has filed the charge sheet against five accused within the mandatory 90 days.
A release from the Office of the Director General of Police/Head of Police Forces said the CB-CID Dindigul, has electronically filed the charge sheet before the jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate Court in the case relating to the alleged fraudulent sale and registration of one acre and 35 cents of land belonging to Arulmigu Dhandapani Swamigal Mutt, Palani, one of the six abodes of Lord Muruga.
The land, dedicated in 1888 for the Mutt’s religious and charitable purposes, has a guideline value of approximately Rs.16 crore. The investigation revealed that a sale deed was executed for a stated consideration of Rs two crore and registered despite the pendency of an appeal by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department.
During the investigation, more than 160 witnesses were examined. Documents obtained from the Registration, Revenue and HR and
CE Departments, CCTV footage, call detail records and banking records were collected and analysed. Based on the evidence collected, the charge sheet has been filed against Murugadass, Sethupathy, Vellaithurai, Justin Manikandan (Sub-Registrar, under suspension) and Jeyaprakash. One of the accused, Advocate Anwardeen, died on August 7 due to health complications at the government hospital and proceedings against him have been abated.
Further investigation is continuing in respect of other persons involved and the aspects relating to offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The timely filing of the charge sheet within the statutory period reflect the CBCID’s commitment to focused investigation, systematic evidence collection and timely completion of investigation in important cases.
After taking over the probe in July few days after the fraudulent land registration surfaced, the CB-CID had questioned more than
100 people and conducted serarches at several locations and seized inciriminating documents, leading to the arrest four people--D.Murugadas (56) of Villupuram, who had sold the land, and K Velladurai (60) of Tiruppur and D Sethupathi, who have purchased the land and S.Anwardeen (65) of Palani, who had facilitated the deal. They were arrested on various sections of the BNS Act including cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and abetment. Later, suspended Sub-Registrar Justin Manikandan, who was cited as the key accused in the case was arrested for allegedly colluding with Jeyaprakash and Anwardeen in executing the fraudulent registration of
the disputed property. Subsequently, Jeyaprakash was also arrested.
After widening the probe further, the CB-CID police had on October 7 arrested two more people in case taking the number of arrests to eight, of which one of them had died. Those arrested were Sivasankari, a junior assistant at the Sub-Registrar’s Office, and advocate Sivakumar, who had allegedly assisted document writer Jeyaprakash in the case.
The CB-CID had earlier questioned document writer Jayaprakash after taking him into custody and also seized a computer and hard disk from his residence and examined them to find out whether others were involved in the alleged fraud.
The case was that a 1.4 acre land parcel, worth Rs 100 crore, belonging to the Dhandayudapani Swami Mutt in Palani has been fraudulently registered in the name of two private individuals. Officials of the HR and CE department have written to the registration department to annul the registration and have ordered an inquiry.
According to sources, the land, located at the foothills, belonged to the Mutt and was currently being used as a parking lot for devotees visiting the temple.
The matter got into legal wrangles after a plea was filed in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking a CBI probe into it.
However, a Division Bench comprising Justices C.V.Karthikeyan and R.Sakthivel had dismissed the pleas filed by former Palani MLA Venugopal Senapathi of AIADMK, who is also a former Trustee of the temple, Palani Municipal Council Chairperson Uma Maheswari and temple trustee Annapoorani, seeking transferring the case to the CBI. The Bench also directed the CB-CID to proceed with the investigation leading to the filing of the final report within the mandatory 90 days.
UNI GV 1625
Tags: #TN CB-CID police files charge sheet in Rs 100 cr Palani temple land fraud row in 90 days
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