Chennai:
A former MLA of the DMK, Ranganathan, has been arrested on land grab charges. He was arrested this morning following a complaint from Chennai's Thirumangalam area.
Ranganathan is the third leader to be arrested after former DMK minister Veerapandi Arumugam and Chepauk MLA J Anbazhagan who are behind bars on similar charges.
The allegation against DMK Arumugham is that he has evicted 32 families in Salem and continues to occupy their plot under a benami identity. In another part of the city, he has allegedly forced this mill owner to sell his property worth thirty crore for just six crore.
In Chennai, DMK MLA Anbazhagan is accused of forcing an entrepreneur in Tirupur sell his 13 crore property for much less.
Four other close aides of M K Alagiri have also been arrested.
An angry DMK took the battle to the street on Monday with its leader and party chief M Karunanidhi's son, MK Stalin, slamming the AIADMK government of Chief Minister J Jayalalaithaa during a protest rally.
"They imprison our cadre and leaders without any basis and force people to file complaints against us. Let them arrest us only if they have documentary evidence against us," said M K Stalin, former Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
He was detained for a few hours while opposing the Chief Minister's move to arrest several DMK leaders on charges of land grab.
"These complaints are from victims who have lost their land. They are not politically affiliated," said Jayalalithaa.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa denies it is political vendetta. She says more than 2,000 land grab complaints have been received so far and that the police never acted against these during the DMK regime. So far, she has been silent on reports of land grab charges against her own minister.
Her current Commercial Taxes Minister Agri Krishnamurthy reportedly faces allegations of land grab from his own colleagues. She herself faces the accusation of once occupying a bungalow at Siruthavoor on land that was given to landless Dalits.