Councillors held for land grab

CHENNAI: The city police on Tuesday arrested two AIADMK councillors of the Kottivakkam panchayat for allegedly preparing fake documents and using an impersonator to grab 1.5 grounds of land in Perungudi worth Rs one crore.
The arrested were Adi Kesavalu alias Kesavan (46), councillor for ward 4, and Chandrasekaran (42), councillor for ward 5.
The duo devised a plan to grab the property of Prabhavathy , an old woman residing at Kodambakkam.They produced another woman, instead of Prabhavathy, before the concerned land registrar and got her to give one of them power of attorney over the property. The other person signed as a witness in the document that was registered. They then tried to build a thatched hut on the plot. On learning about this, Prabhavathy approached the councillors. However, the duo claimed ownership of the property and showed her the forged power of attorney document for the property had been granted to one of them.
Prabhavathy approached city police commissioner R Sekar and lodged a complaint urging him to intervene in the matter. The petition was forwarded to the central crime branch.
Based on the complaint, the police registered a case and picked up the two councillors for investigation. During interrogation , the police came to know that the duo had cheated the victim by using another woman to impersonate Prabhavathy . On questioning, they admitted to having committed the crime.
Police said that one of the arrested, Chandrasekaran alias Sekar alias Meena Sekar, was the AIADMK's panchayat union secretary. The two councillors have been remanded in judicial custody after being produced before the magistrate.