THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The investigating team headed by IG K Padmakumar probing the controversial Ponmudi Merchiston estate land deal filed its report on Wednesday.D P Maheswari, vice-president of Jayashree Tea Estates, the previous owners of the land, and Xavi Mano Mathew, the current owner of the estate, are the first and second accused respectively. According to the report, the accused had transferred 87 acres of ‘ecologically fragile forest land’ to ISRO after hiding crucial facts related to the nature of the land and cases pertaining to it.The report notes that Xavi Mano Mathew had suppressed the fact that the land sold to ISRO was linked to many legal disputes. He had knowledge of this at the time of inking a deal with Birla group-owned Jayasree Estates. Later on, he covered up these facts while entering into a deal with ISRO to sell a portion of the land.The land deal had kicked up a controversy during the tenure of the former LDF Government. Police had initially taken a stance that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing in the deal. However, they changed track following the tough stand taken by the then Forest Minister Benoy Viswam Xavi Mano Mathew had been insisting that the allegations against him were politically motivated.
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