DMK MP arrested on land grab charges

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DMK's Lok Sabha member and actor J.K. Ritheesh Kumar was arrested here Wednesday morning on a land grab complaint, police said.

"He was arrested at 6.30 a.m. in Chennai on land grab complaint and taken to Kanchipuram," a police official said. Kumar is the first DMK MP to be arrested on land grab charges.

The actor-turned-politician, representing Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constitutency in Tamil Nadu, was arrested on a complaint from Samikannu of Pappankudi village in Kanchipuram district.

In his complaint, Samikannu alleged that Kumar had grabbed his 1.47 acre of land using forged documents.

Several prominent leaders and former ministers of the DMK have been arrested and jailed on land grab charges since the AIADMK came to power in May.

Former ministers K. Ponmudi, K.N. Nehru, Veerapandi Arumugham, Parithi Elamvazhuthi, Pongalur Palanisamy and others were among those arrested. The government has set up special cells to investigate land grab complaints.