Former civic chief held

NAMAKKAL: A former panchayat chief of the DMK was arrested in connection with an alleged land grab case near here. Police said that N Madheswaran was arrested along with his brother Chandrasekar and two others on Thursday on the charges of usurping a four-and-a-half acre agricultural land in Thidumal village near Paramathivelur.All the four accused were remanded injudicial custody after being produced before the Paramathivelur court, an officer told Express.The case was registered against them based on a complaint from T Premkumar, a resident of Chinnakollapatti in Salem district.  As per the complaint, Premkumar and his two brothers inherited the property from their grandfather Karuppaiah, who was deserted by his sons and daughters some years ago. Premkumar’s father Thangavel was taking care of Karuppaiah, who wrote a will to give his land to his grandchildren, Premkumar and his brothers, out of gratitude, the officer said.He said that Karuppaiah’s sons Raman and Dass had forged documents and prepared a fake will to sell the land to Madheswaran, a lawyer by profession. Later Madheswaran registered it in his brother Chandrasekar’s name.  When Premkumar went to reclaim the land, he was allegedly threatened by Madheswaran.