Alagiri wifes arrest imminent?

MADURAI: Speculation is rife over the impending arrest of DMK strongman Alagiri’s wife Kanthi Alagiri on charges of usurping a temple property based on a complaint filed by a temple priest. Rumours have been doing the rounds since Monday last, that a case has been registered against Kanthi, managing director of Dhaya Cyber Park.Subramaniya Iyer, a temple priest, had presented a petition to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell stating that several acres of temple land in Uthangudi located near the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has been usurped by Kanthi.Iyer, in his petition, had stated that the land was handed over to a trust formed for the management of the temple in 1936. The land was illegally sold by suppressing the facts regarding the land, to Santiago Martin, a lottery businessman. Martin had given the power of attorney to one Sugumaran, a close aide of Alagiri, and it was then registered in the name of Kanthi. The estimated worth of the land is around Rs 25 crore.According to police top brass, the petition was sent directly to the Chief Minister’s Cell and it was being scrutinised to establish the ties between the land and the accused named in the petition.“You cannot arrest someone for the simple reason that a complaint has been received”, a top police official said and added “the complainant and the accused will have to be summoned for interrogation and the case can be registered based on the findings as chances are there for misrepresentation of facts.”“However, all the prima facie evidence related to the allegations are being gathered. Once we come to know that a cognizable offence was made out, then the case will be registered and the accused will be arrested”, he said.Meanwhile, Alagiri on Sunday said all property of his family members were legally acquired and had been accounted for. “All property acquired by my family members were bought through legal transactions and they have been properly accounted,” he said in a statement issued in Chennai, according to a PTI report.Allegations in a section of the press linking land grab cases to his relatives, were a conspiracy to tarnish his reputation, he claimed and threatened to sue them.