THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A court handed out rigorous imprisonment and fines to two revenue officials who caused loss to the government by making irregularities in the acquisition of land for the national highway in Kesavadasapuram-PMG section.

Former Special Tahsildar Divakaran Pillai was sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,35,000. Village Assistant S. Rajagopal was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,35,000

Special Vigilance Court judge MV Rajakumar pronounced the verdict.

The second accused, 80-year-old Tamil Nadu native Asuntha Mary, was acquitted. Asuntha Mary and residents G. Surendran Nair and Joseph Abraham staked a claim with the government on a cent of land at Kesavadasapuram. Soon, the government along with Surendran and Joseph withdrew their claim and decided to pay Asuntha Mary compensation.

Edison Vaidyar, who owned a land nearby, had given away it for free to the government. The then Special Tahsildar Parushothaman Potti submitted a report to the court showing this.

Special Tahsildar Sreekumaran Nair who arrived after this fixed the land price and gave a report. Divakaran Pillai, who came next, corrected the reports, Mahazar and related documents and made a single file by adding the free land and price. A check of Rs.12,60,910 was also given to Asuntha Mary.

For this, the "Thandaper" (refers to the document that establishes the rightful ownership of a property in Kerala) was also corrected. Divakaran Pillai then made a fake signature of Sreekumaran Nair on Purushottaman Potti's report. The fake signature proved costly and brought out the fraud behind the land deed transactions. Village Assistant S. Rajagopal abetted in the crime.

The irregularity was detected by internal vigilance during the annual inspection of the Collectorate. The case was handed over to Vigilance. Public Prosecutor Veena Saseendran appeared for the prosecution.