Realty firm staff holds officials hostage

COIMBATORE: Revenue officials were wrongfully confined at a farm house property belonging to the directors of Sree Daksha Property Developers India Private Limited situated in Moongilmadai village near Alandurai, when they had gone there to reclaim an acre of poromboke land the developers had encroached on Thursday afternoon. Coimbatore south tahsildar K S Murali Krishnan and Alandurai police inspector Vivekanandan and his team rushed to the spot and rescued the revenue officials, arresting five persons.
Alandruai revenue inspector R Muthukumar, village administrative officer Thamaraiselvi and other revenue officials found that one acre of vaari poromboke was encroached by the property developers. "We issued a notice to the land owners but there was no response. We got permission from the district collector to remove the encroachment. We entered the farm house campus with an earthmover. The staff of the farm house closed the main gate and wrongfully confined us," said Muthukumar, revenue inspector.
The officials were wrongfully confined for at least two hours. Coimbatore south tahsildar Murali Krishnan and Alandurai police inspector Vivekanandan were alerted by the revenue officials and they rushed to the spot. The staff of the farm house argued with the officials.
"A stream 35-feet wide and 50 meters in length was completely leveled using sand. They tried to develop a garden in the encroached land. Only 15 cents was reclaimed and the remaining encroachment will be reclaimed on Friday," said Muthukumar, revenue inspector.
Around 5 pm, the eviction work was stopped by revenue officials due to elephant movements in the area. "The revenue officials did not issue any notice and they suddenly entered the farm house campus along with an earthmover. So, the farmhouse staff had asked them what they were up to. We did not encroach on any land and we are ready to face the issue legally," said M Ganesh, public relationship officer, Sree Daksha Property Developers (India) Private Limited.
Meanwhile, Alandurai VAO Thamaraiselvi lodged a complaint with Alandurai police who registered a case against five persons under section 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 294 (b) (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months or with fine or with both), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police arrested R Gunasekaran (32) of Kasthurinaickenpalayam, C Ramachandran (59) of Bommanampalayam, R Govindakannan (42) of Nathegoundenpudur, N Kumar (42) of Alandurai and A Rangaraj (24) of Vadavalli. Gunasekaran was the farm house manger and Ramachandran, the safety officer
All of them have been remanded to judicial custody.