Thiruvananthapuram: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has launched a preliminary inquiry into the land deal of Mathew Kuzhalnadan MLA at Chinnakanal in Idukki district.
The inquiry is being conducted on a complaint received by the bureau under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Vigilance made it clear that the proceedings underway were not an investigation per se but a preliminary examination of the issues raised in the petition.
Besides Vigilance, the state special branch, which is the intelligence wing of the Kerala Police, and the investigation wing of the revenue department have been scrutinising Kuzhalnadan's land deal for the past three months.
Kuzhalnadan's defence
Kuzhalnadan, who is at present the Muvattupuzha legislator, registered the land at Chinnakanal in March 2021, paying Rs 1.92 crore for the land and the building on it to the seller.
However, in the affidavit submitted by him to the Election Commission in the same month, he had shown the value of the property as Rs 3.5 crore.
The explanation given by Kuzhalnadan for this anomaly was that a part of the land was registered later but the money for it had been paid earlier. He also said that he had spent a substantial amount of money on the improvement of the land and building which had come into his possession earlier. But, the personal income earned by Kuzhalnadan between 2013 and 2021 was only Rs 91.58 lakh.
The Vigilance is mainly examining how a person who made an income of less than Rs 1 crore in 8 years could acquire a property valued at Rs 3.5 crore in just one year in 2021.
The allegation that the two partners of Kuzhalnadan are in fact his proxies (benamis) will also be looked into.
The complaint received by the Vigilance has also alleged that officials of the village and panchayat had helped Kuzhalnadan. This aspect of the case will also be investigated.
Revenue Department resurvey
The revenue department conducted a resurvey of the land adjoining Kuzhalnadan's ancestral house following an order in this regard by the Vigilance.
The resurvey, which began at 11 am on Friday, was conducted on the land owned by the MLA at Ayankara in Kadavoor village in Kothamangalam taluk on the eastern periphery of Ernakulam district.
Activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) had filed a complaint with the Vigilance alleging that unassigned land adjoining Kuzhalnadan’s ancestral house had been appropriated by levelling it with soil.
