Secretary of NGO that employed Swapna Suresh held for land grabbing

Aji Krishnan, the secretary of the NGO that employed Swapna Suresh, the accused in the gold smuggling case, was arrested for alleged land grabbing and manhandling of tribals in Attappady in Palakkad (Kerala).

Krishnan is the secretary of HRDS India. Police say HRDS took 56 acres of tribal land in Attappady on lease, burned their houses and manhandled and harassed the tribals who questioned them.

Krishnan has denied the charges and termed it as an act of vengeance. A few days back, Krishnan told media persons that HRDS had removed Swapna from the NGO’s payroll. He alleged that the State government was targeting HRDS for employing Swapna and had been misusing various investigating agencies to harass the organisation.

Krishnan was arrested under sections 436, 324 and 506 of the IPC along with relevant sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Act. “The FIR was filed on a complaint raised by one Raman, a native of Sholapur whose 16 acres of land was allegedly taken over by HRDS. A total of 56 acres belonging to nine tribal persons were taken on lease by HRDS and this caused conflict between the tribal people and HRDS,” Muralidharan, the Deputy Superintendent of Police at Agali (Attappady, Palakkad) told The Federal. Muralidharan said Raman and others were allegedly beaten and abused.

The DySP said that the allegation of revenge is baseless. “Investigation was going on the alleged harassment of tribals and the allegations of land grab. We went ahead with the arrest based on the legal advice given by the advocate general’s office,” he told The Federal.

Police said more arrests are expected. The DYSP informed that there are 25 people on the accused list in addition to Aji Krishnan.

Last year, SC/ST Commission recommended taking action against the NGO for violating various provisions of the Act meant to protect land belonging to tribals. “Taking tribal land on lease (by non-tribes) is not legally permitted. The agreement signed by HRDS for facilitating farming was not legally sound,” said Krishna Prasad, former project officer of ITDP (Integrated Tribal Development Programme), who investigated the allegations.

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Prasad said the houses that HRDS built for Adivasis were of poor quality. “We found that the walls of the 400 sqft houses were made of 18 mm fiber board. Such houses are very unsafe in forest land where people live under the scare of wild animal attack,” he added.

Based on these findings, the district collector initiated an inquiry into the land deals and housing projects carried out by HRDS India.

On the way to court, Krishnan told media persons that the State government is taking revenge on HRDS.

Meanwhile, the local people and former staffers of HRDS have levelled several allegations against the activities of the NGO. “They collected the land documents from the tribal people and initiated a project of farming of medicinal plants. Taking tribal land on lease is illegal. They were involved in many such illegal activities. I decided to quit when I realised it,” said C A Salomi, a former employee of HRDS. Salomi, a retired school teacher had a very short stint with HRDS in 2021. She told The Federal that she joined the NGO on Aji Krishnan’s advice. “I worked as the Vice Chairperson of their women empowerment programme.  I have been a teacher in Attappady since 36 years. They invited me to join the NGO for making use of my experience in the tribal sector,” Salomi said. After leaving the NGO, Salomi lodged a complaint with the district collector, pointing out alleged illegal activities being carried out by HRDS India.