Merchiston land deal : Probe report filed

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.