Actor Jayasurya, 3 Kochi Corp employees chargesheeted over backwater encroachment

Muvattupuzha: Popular Malayalam film actor Jayasurya will have to face legal proceedings over alleged encroachment of a fringe of backwater at Chilavannur in Kochi. The Vigilance has filed the chargesheet in the case that was initially registered nearly six years ago.

The Special Investigation Team submitted the chargesheet before the Vigilance Court at Muvattupuzha on Tuesday. The belated action is response to a petition filed at the court by one Girish Babu.

The chargesheet has been framed against Jayasurya and three former Kochi Municipal Corporation officials.

The case

As per the case the actor cornered a part of the waterbody while building the compound wall on his property. A pier too was built abutting the residential plot.

It was alleged these constructions were made by encroaching upon unassessed public land, i.e., puramboke in local parlance and revenue department records.

The Kochi Corporation authorities facilitated the unauthorised construction of the boat jetty and compound wall on the backwater bank violating the Coastal Regulation Zone Act and Municipal Building Rules, stated the complaint filed by the petitioner.

Subsequently, the encroachments were detected by the Kanayannoor Taluk surveyor; thereafter, the Kochi Corporation Secretary submitted a report to Vigilance Court, Thrissur, in this regard. Since the incident occurred in Ernakulam district, the case was transferred to the Vigilance Court, Muvattupuzha.

After the petition was filed in 2013, the Kochi Corporation issued notices to Jayasurya in 2014, asking him to demolish and remove the unauthorized constructions within 14 days. Though the Kanayannur Taluk surveyor was entrusted with measuring the encroachment, the order was never implemented.