Chennai: Minister accused of land grab
Arappor Iyakkam had earlier complained, in 2023, about grabbing of many tracts of those lands, which had led to the recovery of some and initiation of the recovery process of others
Chennai: State Minister for Milk and Dairy Development R S Rajakannappan, has been accused of grabbing 4.52 acres of government land with a market value of Rs 411,23,60,000, along with his three sons by an anti-corruption NGO, Arappor Iyakkam.
Addressing a media conference at Chennai on Tuesday, Arappor Iyakkam convenor, Jayaram Venkatesan, said that prime land was located on GST Road and has been fraudulently registered in the name of Deccan’s Fun Islands and Hotels Ltd, in which the Ministers’ sons, Prabhu Kannappan, Diwakar Kannappan and Dilip Kumar Kannappan were directors.
The land is situated in St Thomas Mount village, where several tracts of land were given on lease by the British government before independence to British citizens living in India. After independence those tracts of land were taken back by the government on expiry of the lease period of 50 years.
Arappor Iyakkam had earlier complained, in 2023, about grabbing of many tracts of those lands, which had led to the recovery of some and initiation of the recovery process of others. The survey number of land grabbed by the Minister was not in the list of survey numbers given to the government in 2023.
Venkatesan said that the registration of the government land in the name of Deccan’s Fun Island and Hotels happened between 1991 and 1996 when Rajakannappan (then Kannappan) was Minister of Electricity, PWD and Highways in J Jayalalithaa’s cabinet.
Subsequently, the sons of the Minister took control of the land that actually belonged to the government, Venkatesan said and presented a slew of relevant documents to prove his charge.