Temple property fraud: Former officials and sub-registrars among 19 accused in temple land scam in TN

A criminal case has been registered against 19 people, including two former revenue officials, two sub-registrars and several individuals, over the alleged fraudulent transfer and registration of a valuable endowment property belonging to the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.

The FIR was registered on July 25 under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC after a complaint was filed by K Chelladurai, joint commissioner and executive officer of the temple.

The FIR states that the disputed property at Chokkikulam was donated to the temple by T M Durairani, wife of Pudukottai king T M Durairaja through a will which dates back to 1930, to fund religious rituals, charity and scholarships.


Temple authorities alleged the status of the property status as temple endowment was illegally removed from revenue records, after which the patta was transferred to private individuals in 2016.

The FIR includes former VAO Arasan, former tahsildar Anbalagan, Murappanadu sub-registrar Anantharaman, Vadamadurai sub-registrar Prasanth Santhana Karuppan, and individuals including Ramayee Aayiyar, Senthamil Selvi, Prema, Rajkumar, Muthurani, Rajendran, Kuzhanthaiya, Pushbaraj, Jothi, Geetha, S Ilayaraja, P Anish, Kavitha, Prakash and Kalikumar as the accused.

The complaint stated that ownership disputes over the property were ongoing before revenue authorities and despite court proceedings relating to the property, power-of-attorney and mortgage documents were registered in 2021 through the Murappanadu and Vadamadurai sub-registrar offices.

The temple authorities also alleged that the transactions were carried out by suppressing material facts and in violation of statutory provisions and court orders.

The FIR was registered on Saturday (July 25) and said that the CCB has taken up further investigation. No arrests have been reported so far, a senior police officer told TOI.

Arappor Iyakkam had earlier flagged the issue, based on which action was taken and initiated by the HR&CE department.

“If complaints about such frauds are lodged, strict action would be taken on them,” said HR&CE minister S Ramesh.