Coimbatore

The case follows a complaint by Omalur Social Forest Range Officer T Thirumurugan at Mecheri police station in June.

The official had found an illegal check post at ‘Vedan Karadu’ area with a mobile phone number written there. When Thirumurugan rang up the number, Palanisamy, who claimed to be a security guard of MP Parthiban, reportedly issued threats to Thirumurugan against entering the land.

The Forest Range Officer, however, accessed the land through an alternative route and reportedly found crops been raised in the forest area. Further, over 200 varieties of trees were cut and smuggled out, and a concrete road had been laid into the social forest area, said the complaint.

The road was laid in the intervening years of 2013 and 2016, when SR Parthiban was an MLA in the Mettur constituency.

On receiving the complaint, the Mecheri police booked MP Parthiban, his brother Ashok Kumar, Anand Padmanaban and security guard Palanisamy on charges of trespassing, preventing officials from discharging their duty and issuing death threats.

 The MP however denied encroaching any land and claimed that a false case had been foisted on him due to political vendetta. “I don’t own any land in the Mettur constituency. Also I didn’t encroach any forest land. This is a false case and I will face it legally,” he said.

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