Veerapandi aide arrested under Goonda’s Act

SALEM: B Kowsiga Boopathy, a close aide of former minister and DMK Salem district secretary Veerapandi S Arumugam, was arrested under the Goondas’ Act from Tirutani by the city police on Thursday. Police said that he has involved in five land grab cases.
Boopathy, 58, belongs to Sankagiri in Salem district and is an executive member of DMK Salem district committee.“He is involved in five land grab cases registered in Salem and Chennai between 2006 and 2011. The four cases in Salem include Angammal colony case, Dasanaickanpatti Balamohanraj's case, Coimbatore jewellery case and Salem co-operative Seva Sangam’s land case,” police said.
In the Angammal colony land grab case, Boopathy usurped land estimated at Rs 10 crore belonging to 23 families after threatening the land owners. In the Bala Mohanraj case, the owner was forced to part with 12,676 square feet land worth Rs 4 crore for Rs 40 lakh.
In the Chennai case, Boopathy obtained a power of attorney from Muthu of Red Hills for 40.38 acres in the same area. Later, the power of attorney was cancelled and the title of the land transferred to Boopathy’s relatives, police claimed.
Boopathy is the second person from Salem to be arrested under the Goondas’ Act. Earlier, Arumugam’s nephew Parapatti K Suresh Kumar was detained on January 30 this year.
Boopathy, a relative of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University vice chancellor Morgues Boopathy, joined DMK in 1980 and gradually became the assistant to former DMK minister Veerapandi Arumugam.
Since AIADMK gained office in Chennai, many influential persons including Veerapandi Arumugam, Parapatti Suresh Kumar and Lakshmanan, a police inspector, were arrested in land grab cases. However, Boopathy evaded arrest for nearly two months.
In September last, he moved the Madras high court seeking anticipatory bail. However, the high court ordered him to appear before Salem judicial magistrate court on September 23. Accordingly, he had appeared in court and got bail.