As residents protest eviction, police arrest 5 who sold govt land to them

The arrested were identified as D Rajendran, 56, of Muneeswaran Koil Street in Injambakkam, S Kanniappan, 56, of Muneeswaran Koil Street in Injambakkam, M Cholan, 47, of Ponniamman Koil Street in Injambakkam, G Venkatesan, 60, of Ponniamman Koil Street in Injambakkam and S Haridoss, 57, of Thanthai Periyar Nagar in Injambakkam.

Police said at least 30 people were involved in encroaching the government land and they subsequently sold the plots to other people, who had been protesting for the last couple of days against eviction.

Based on the complaint of the Sholinganallur tahsildar Manisekar, the Neelankarai police registered a fresh case and arrested the five people. The five were remanded in judicial custody on Friday.

Following the Madras High Court order, the revenue officials had begun retrieval of 164 acres of wetland where more than 5,000 residents are staying.

On January 24, the first bench of the Madras High Court had censured the revenue and district administration for failing to remove the encroachments.