5 men arrested for trying to grab land in Vellalore

Coimbatore: A five-member gang was arrested on Sunday for attempting to grab nine cents vacant land at Vellalore from a 55-year-old realtor.

According to police, C V Thomas, of NRR Layout at Singanallur, had bought the land when it was auctioned by a bank in 2007 after its owner failed to repay loan.

“The land was earlier owned by S Gangadharan, an AIADMK functionary from Vellalore, who had pledged it and taken the loan. It was auctioned as he didn’t repay the loan,” a police officer said.

On Saturday evening, when Thomas went to put up a fence around his land, Sathya Pasupathi, 43, of Thoothukudi district, his car driver R Jothish, 29, of Munnar and friends K Dhamodaran, 27, of Sivakashi, Gangadharan and P Petchimuthu, 43, of Vellalore, assaulted him.

They also erected the flags of Pasupathiyar Tamizhaga Munnetra Kazhagam, a political outfit launched by Pasupathi, on the land.

Thomas alerted the Podanur police and a team lead by assistant commissioner of police Cedric Manuel and inspector P Maheswaran reached the spot and asked the five-member gang to vacate the area. However, Pasupathi argued with police and told them that he had taken the land on lease for 99 years from Gangadharan.

Police, however, booked the five under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 294 (b) (sings, recites, or utters any obscene song, ballad or words in or near any public place), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 447 (punishment for criminal trespass), 448 (punishment for house-trespass), 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act and arrested them. All the five were lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison under Judicial custody on Sunday.

Pasupathi, the officer said, has three murder cases and as many attempt-to-murder cases pending against him. He was a close aide of Pasupathi Pandian, founder of Federation of Devendrakula Vellalars, who was murdered by a gang at his residence in Dindigul district in January 2012.

“After the demise of Pandian, Pasupathi started his own party called Pasupathiyar Tamizhaga Munnetra Kazhagam,” the officer said.