The Madurai City crime branch has registered a case against 19 people, including for fraudulently transferring and registering land belonging to a trust under the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. In Madurai. The accused include two revenue officials and two serving sub-registrars
The FIR was registered on July 25 based on a complaint lodged by the temple's joint commissioner and executive officer of the temple, K Chelladurai.
According to the FIR, the case pertains to a charitable endowment created under a 1930’s will.
The FIR details how the disputed property at Chokkikulm was given to the temple trust Pudukottai Rajakumarar Dakshanamoorthy Durairaja Durairani Trust under the Meenakshi temple in a will dated November 5, 1930. It was executed by TM Durairani, the wife of Pudukottai King TM Durairaja, to fund religious rituals, charity and scholarships.
The temple authorities alleged that despite the property’s status as a temple endowment, the temple title was removed from the revenue records and paata was transferred to private individuals in 2016.
The will had explicitly stated that the trust would not be allowed to sell, mortgage or transfer the ownership of the land.
The order was later set aside by the revenue divisional officer while the district revenue officer directed a fresh inquiry, The New Indian Express reported. The Madras High Court also granted an interim stay in March 2021 against implementing the disputed patta transfer.
The suspects in the current case concealed that pending litigation.
The temple authorities claimed that the transaction that took place, including power of attorney and mortgage documents registered in 2021, was carried out by suppressing material facts. The suspects in the current case concealed the pending litigation that violated statutory provisions. The documents were registered through the Murappandu and Vadanmadurai sub-registrar officers.
The accused named in the FIR include Ramayi Aiyar, Senthamilchelvi, Prema, Rajkumar, Muthurani, Rajendran, Kadaiya, Pushparaj, Jyothi, Geetha, former VAO, Arasan, former Tahsildar Anbazhagan, Sub-Registrar Anantharaman and Ilayaraja, Kavita, Anish, Prakash, Kalikumar and Prashanth Santhana Karuppan. No arrests have been made so far.
