Have not encroached upon any public land: Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan

The Congress leader said that while he would defend his rights, if it was found that he had encroached upon excess land, he would give it up.

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‘Will not be scared’

“However, I am not going to run around in panic due to such moves. I will not be scared or deterred from the steps I have taken by such actions,” the MLA said.

He was apparently referring to his allegations of irregularities in transactions of the firm Exalogic Solutions owned by Veena Thaikandiyil — Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter — with a Kochi-based company.

It was following his allegations against the firm that the government began looking into his resort property at Chinnakanal in Idukki.

Denying the encroachment allegations, Kuzhalnadan told reporters at a press briefing that he has “not taken over even an inch of public land”.

“I have not encroached upon any public land in excess of the resort property purchased by me,” he added.

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‘Not seen the vigilance report’

He said that one of the reported allegations against him was that he had built a wall around the encroached area and contended that there was no wall around the entire resort property.

The MLA said that he only “reinforced” a portion of an ages-old protective wall, on one side of the property, that was in a dilapidated condition.

“I was forced to reinforce the wall as otherwise there was a possibility of the entire property crashing down onto the road. I do not know if that is the wall they are referring to. I have not seen the vigilance report or the decision taken by the Revenue department,” Kuzhalnadan claimed.

Earlier in the day, the Kerala High Court asked the Union government whether it intends to order a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) into the affairs of the software firm owned by Veena.

The Union government had ordered a probe against her company Exalogic Solutions and a Kochi-based company, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL), to which it was offering services.

Justice Devan Ramachandran posed the query to the Union government after it filed a memo in court confirming that it has ordered an investigation — under Section 210 (investigation into affairs of company) of the Companies Act — into the two companies.

(With PTI inputs)