Two former self-government officials and a builder were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the irregularities in the construction of four residential apartments at Maradu in Kochi. The apartments are facing demolition after a Supreme Court order for violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.
Those arrested were Sani Francis, the owner of Holy Faith Builder and Developers, Muhammed Ashraf and P.E. Joseph, former secretary and former junior superintendent of the erstwhile Maradu Panachayat respectively.
This is the first arrest in the case. The accused will be produced before the Muvattupuzha vigilance court on Wednesday.
The government had handed over the case to the crime branch from local police, which had earlier registered an FIR against three builders. The crime branch had sought permission from the state government to invoke provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the former panchayat officials who had allegedly given the sanction to construct buildings violating CRZ rules.
The Supreme Court had on September 27 directed demolition of the flats within 138 days in accordance with the time schedule provided by the Kerala government.
It had also ordered the government to pay Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation to each flat owner within four weeks.
The top court had also directed freezing of assets of builders and promoters involved in the construction of the illegal buildings.
Earlier this month, the Crime Branch had carried out a search and seizure operation in Maradu municipality and seized hundreds of documents related to the apartments concerned.
The investigating team had later conducted a similar operation at the offices of Holy Faith Builders and Developers, builders of H2O Holy Faith Apartments, and Alfa Ventures and Jain Housing and Construction Ltd, builders of Alfa Serene and Jain Coral Cove apartments.
With inputs from PTI