The Jones family had once called Kotagiri, Kodanadu their home. However, the British family was forced to part with the 906-acre tea estate to VK Sasikala.
It was snatched away in 1994, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s aide, Sasikala, for Rs 7.6 crore – a sum that was far less than the property’s value.
It was not an amicable purchase; Sasikala had used all possible means to coerce the Jones’ to give away shares in their company, Kodanad Tea Estates Private Limited, and their cherished tract land.
Peter narrated to Lakshmi how 150 goons were sent to harass him and his father, William Jones, the man who originally owned the land in Kotagiri.
In a chat with the TNM, Peter revealed that three men were instrumental in forcing his family to give away their land. Negotiations began in 1992 with businessman P Rajarathinam, present Education Minister P Sengottaiyan and liquor baron NPV Ramasamy Udayar playing significant roles in ‘marshalling pressure’ to enable Sasikala to ‘grab’ the land.
Peter wants the court and the government to give him justice and that’s the only reason why he has decided to speak up now after so many years.
“ If I can’t get the property back and Sasikala retains it, then I want her to make good on her earlier promises. I don’t have any ways to pressurize her,” Jones added.
Jones first came to Kotagiri when he was in his 20s. Although, parting with the land was painful for the family. He kept quiet for more than two decades, because of two reasons: fear and hope.
Fear of consequences of taking on two of the most powerful women in Tamil Nadu, and hope that the court would intervene.
“If you look at the events that followed, the Disproportionate Assets complaint by Subramanian Swamy had become a court case. The case was about 32 companies including Kodanadu Tea Estates Ltd. We were assuming that the court case would finish quickly and it would become known that Kodanadu was misappropriated. We thought that once the case was decided, we could take up our case too. But that case dragged on and on. And Jayalalithaa was found innocent (by the Karnataka High Court),” said Jones.
Though the negotiations for the tea estate went on for two years, Jones never met Jayalalithaa. His father, however, did once. Peter recounted
He places the blame of harassment squarely on VK Sasikala. “My father could speak fluently in Tamil and he directly talked to Sasikala,” he said.
Besides Sengottaiyan, Rajarathinam and Udayar, Sasikala’s nephew Sudhakaran and another relative were also part of the talks, Peter said.
Peter pointed out, “Shortly after she purchased the estate from us, she lost the elections and the DMK came into power. After they purchased the estate, we were getting all assurances (from Sasikala) that everything would be settled as promised.
Even though Jones did not involve DMK members in the matter, he did consider the idea when negotiations with Sasikala remained fruitless for five or six years. He said he not act on it because,
In spite of Sasikala’s assurances that the family would be compensated, they lost hope over the years.
Peter knows that his decision to come out in public against Sasikala, at a time when she is no longer the powerful person that she once was, may still not yield any results. He is, however, determined to go on.
“For my family it was a horrible situation right from the beginning and those sad memories are resurfacing now. Nobody thinks that any good will come out of this. But I am very passionate about the property. It was my father’s home.
He was brought up in Kotagiri and it was important for him to have a property in his place. He never ever wanted to sell it, in fact even when we signed the document with Udayar, my father refused to be a part of it,” he signed off.
(This story has been edited for length. It was originally published on The News Minute.)
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