Earlier, the Thiruvananthapuram revenue department had confirmed that the land, which had sparked a legal fight and the suicide of the couple — Rajan and Ambili — in Neyyatinkara, belonged to their neighbour Vasantha. However, the latest reports indicate that there are doubts regarding the mutation of property (transfer or change of title entry in revenue records of the local civic body).
The Thiruvananthapuram District Collector Navjot Khosa has ordered the police to conduct a probe into the mutation of the land and the claims made by its supposed owner Vasantha.
According to the Collector, there are irregularities in the land bought by Vasantha, and Khosa wondered at how a land, registered with a title deed, could be converted into Vasantha’s name.
In an initial inquiry, the revenue department had submitted a report pointing at the violation of rules in the transfer of land. However, in a report to the District Collector earlier this month, the Tahsildar stated that the land belonged to Vasantha. The latter had moved the court against Rajan for illegal occupation of the property stating that the land belonged to her and that she possessed its title deed. She also claimed that she had been paying land tax for the property for the past 15 years.
The probe into the tragic suicide of the couple and the confusion over property ownership has been transferred to the Crime Branch as the local police are facing serious accusations of violation of protocols over the couple’s death.
The couple’s children, Rahul and Ranjith, have accused Neyyatinkara Sub Inspector of Police and Vasantha for the death of their parents. Rahul, an eyewitness to the incident, said that although his father had poured kerosene over himself, the latter did not intend to commit suicide. The boy added that his father was trying to resist the officials who had come to evict them from the land.
Rajan and his wife Ambili had accidentally set themselves on fire while trying to resist an eviction drive led by police officers in front of their house on December 22. The couple passed away on December 28 due to severe burn injuries.
