THE CONSPIRACY TRAIL

How a handfull of officials robbed tribal residents of their relocation compensation

June 29, 2018

Union Environment Ministry sanctions `25.50 crore to relocate people from the core area of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.Two members of the committee set up to oversee the relocation, lawyer C Sukumaran and Nellakottai range officer Suresh Kumar, allegedly persuade the tribal families to use the compensation money to buy land.They take the families to nearby areas to see land and interact with brokers

September 6, 2018

Families receive the first instalment of `1 lakh.The amount is immediately transferred to brokers’ accounts on the promise of land in Machhikohli, Pattavayal or Aiyankolli villages. When they start building their houses, forest officials inform them that it is government land that cannot be sold to individuals

October 2, 2018

A Madhavan, head of Nagampalli gram sabha, gives written complaint to the Nilgiris district collector J Innocent Divya

November 29, 2018

The second instalment lands in people’s account, which is again transferred to the brokers’ accounts

January 26, 2019

Adivasi Munnetra Sangam sends a complaint letter to National Commission for Scheduled Castes saying 93 families have been cheated of `6.70 lakh each

February 2019

The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department asks Ooty superintendent of police to probe the case

September 3, 2019

21 tribal people file an FIR saying they have been duped of a total of `2 crore