Chennai, May 16: The son of educationist and real estate owner E.V.
Perumal Swamy, a relative of health minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran,
was arrested on Wednesday for alleged land fraud. The police is on the
look out for Mr Swamy. Apart from Santhosh Reddy, who is Swamy's son,
the police has also arrested one of his associates. Reddy's sister is
married to the minister's son. Swamy is also a self-styled godman.
According to the police, the arrest was made on a court direction after a
real estate developer Ravi Appaswamy of Appaswamy Real Estate lodged a
petition alleging fraud by Swamy's family. According to the comb plaint,
Mr Appaswamy had brought 26 grounds of land for Rs 31 crore on 100 feet
Road in Koyambedu in 2005. A few months ago when the deal was completed
as per the agreement, Swamy and his son allegedly asked for Rs 60 crore
as land prices had sky rocketed in the city. When he refused, the
sellers started threatening the buyers. Brushing aside the allegations
that the police was being soft on the accused, the Mambalam police
claimed that it was taking the case seriously. "The accused were booked
for their attempt to cheat and as well as forging documents," the police
said. Swamy's family had forged the document to show that the same 26
grounds of land had been sold to another person before 2005. "They tried
to show that the land was already sold to another person before it was
sold to Appaswamy Real Estate. They wanted to show the buyers that the
land never belonged to them. They tried to threaten the buyers and get
additional money from them," the police said. The police said Swamy was
the brain behind the crime. "We are on the look out for him," claimed an
officer, who downplayed the political pressure the police faced when it
took up the case. The police produced Santhosh and his associate
Perumal Reddy in a Saidapet court on Wednesday evening where they were
remanded to judicial custody.
