Owner gets back grabbed land

SALEM: The Salem district police on Monday facilitated an aggrieved land owner take possession of her land, what is claimed as a first incident in the State after the AIADMK government set up land grab cells to bring to book DMK men involved in fraudulent land deals.A beeming Padmavathy took possession of her 4,365  sq ft of land in Thadampatti, worth Rs 50 lakh, which was allegedly grabbed by Auto Manickam alias Ramasamy, senior DMK leader, councillor of ward 9 and chairman of the revenue committee of the Salem Corporation.He was arrested on June 28 by the district crime branch special police cell.Manickam staked claim to Padmavathy’s land by forging a power of attorney document and sold the land to Raja in 1998. Padmavathy went to a civil court and had an order in her favour in March 2001.In 2007, Raja transferred the land back to Manickam when he found it was a disputed one.Padmavathy complained to the Salem RDO in October 2007 and also filed a case in the civil court in Salem. Both passed orders in favour of Padmavathy in 2008. However, instead of vacating the land, Manickam constructed a building and rented it for a TASMAC bar.Manickam allegedly used his clout as a senior DMK man to establish his hold over the property. After filing a complaint with the SP following the change in government, field surveys and verification of documents were carried out. After establishing that Padmavathy held the original documents, the police helped retrieve her land.