Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's controversial gunman Salim Raj, arrested in connection with a land grab case, was granted bail by a CBI court here today.
CBI Judge R Raghu also granted bail to six others arrested along with Raj on June 3 in connection with the case related to alleged grabbing of 46.5 acres of land worth around Rs 400 crore at Kadakampally in the district.
The judge directed the accused not to enter Thiruvananthapuram district limit until further orders and present themselves at the CBI office at Kochi on all Saturdays and whenever the investigating officials demanded.
Apart from Salim Raj, the others arrested in the case were Deputy Tahsildar Vidyodaya Kumar, land broker C K Jayaram, Salim Raj's relatives Nizar Ahammed, Abdul Majeed, Abdul Ashraf and S M Salim.
CBI's case was that the accused conspired with government officials and forged documents of the land for the purpose of defeating the title of the land owners during 2005-12.
In furtherance of the conspiracy, the accused persons executed false sale deeds and sale agreement.
Salim Raj is an accused in an another similar case of land- grab at Kalamassery in Kochi.
CBI took up the case on the direction of the Kerala High Court in March last year.
