HC dismisses anticipatory bail petition of accused in Palani math land case

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed the anticipatory bail petition filed by K. Vellathurai of Tiruppur district, one of the accused in the case pertaining to fraudulent registration of Palani math land.

Justice K. Rajasekar said that as far as the criminal case was concerned, it was alleged that both the vendor and the purchaser had colluded and created the document for the purpose of grabbing the properties of the math.

The court said that as of date, no material had been produced to show ₹2 crore as sale consideration having been passed. “Non-passing of the sale consideration for registering properties of this nature clearly indicates there is a malafide intention among the parties, and strongly supports the case of the prosecution that it is a sham document and there is a collusion between the vendor and purchaser,” the court said.

Guideline value

“It is also stated that the guideline value of the property is nearly ₹16 crore, whereas the vendor has hurriedly come forward to sell the property for a total sale consideration of ₹2 crore. This also raises serious doubt regarding the bona fide nature of the document, and this also stands against the petitioner, and there is no explanation for the same,” the court said.

In this case, there are allegations made against the officers involved in the registration and the other persons including the other trustees who have alleged to have agreed to pass a resolution to sell the property and it is stated that they have been paid a total of ₹1 lakh, the court said.

The court said there were circumstances that required detailed investigation, and granting the petitioner anticipatory bail would hamper the investigation.

The court, therefore, declined to grant anticipatory bail, and dismissed the petition.

The petitioner Vellathurai claimed that he was a bona fide purchaser, who had no need to enrich himself out of the transaction and make a profit out of it. He said the document had already been cancelled. He does not want to have any claim with respect to the property, he said, and sought anticipatory bail.

Earlier, the High Court on July 17 granted interim bail, till August 4, to another accused, Sub-Registrar Justin Manikandan Subramanian, who has been placed under suspension in the case of fraudulent registration of the Palani math land.