Illegal sale of Palani math land: CB-CID arrests four persons including seller and buyers

Two weeks after the CB-CID started investigating the illegal sale of 1.40 acres of land belonging to Dhandapani Swamy Math in Palani, the first arrests were made in the multi-crore land transaction and the four accused were arrested on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.

The arrested accused were identified as D. Murugadass (56) of Villupuram, who sold the land; K. Vellaidurai (60) and D. Sethupathi from Tiruppur are the buyers of the land; and S. Anwardeen (65) of Palani, who is said to have facilitated the agreement. They were arrested for cheating, forgery, abetment and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Also Read: Trouble with temple land in Palani

The land parcel, which is under the management of Joint Commissioner/Enforcement Officer of Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple in Palani, is used as free parking for vehicles of devotees visiting the temple. CB-CID registered a case on July 16 after the temple inspector lodged a complaint against several people not affiliated with the Math for selling the land.

The investigating agency has been interrogating various people, including officials from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Trusts (HR&CE) and Registration Departments, for the last two weeks.

The arrests took place soon after former Palani MLA KSN Venugopalu Senapathi of AIADMK filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking a CBI probe in the case on Tuesday. Mr. Senapathi, a former trustee of Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple, in his petition before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, complained that not a single person has been arrested in the case so far.

He alleged that the investigation agency and the Registration Department official, who is an accused in the case, were under the control of the Tamil Nadu government and hence he wanted an investigation by the national investigation agency.

All defendants were brought before the Criminal Court of Peace, which issued a judicial detention order until 12 August.