Seven arrested in Ghangapatna scam

BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch on Friday arrested seven people, including four government employees, in connection with the Ghangapatna land scam, in which several influential persons, including some politicians, allegedly grabbed 76 acre government land.
They are Arjuna Charan Baral (retired additional tehsildar), Debasis Mohanty (currently employed with BMC), Amruta Jena (record keeper), Padmacharan Muduli (retired revenue supervisor), Abhimanyu Rath, Tikan Nayak and Niranjan Muduli.
"The four government employees forged land records with help from others, leading to unauthorized possession of government land by private people. The other three accused are lessees, who illegally sold their leasehold lands to others," said ADG (Crime Branch) B K Sharma. "Others, involved in the scam, will be arrested soon," he added.
Reacting to allegations that several powerful people and politicians usurped the government land, Sharma said, "So far, we have not come across illegalities on the part of any politician. Nobody will be spared if they found guilty."
The scam generated political heat a few weeks back following allegations that some influential people, including BJP president K V Singhdeo's daughter Nivriti Kumari and Rajya Sabha member Kalpataru Das's son Pranab Balabantaray, a BJD MLA, had acquired government land violating norms. A road was under construction through the forest to provide access to the disputed property. Both Singhdeo and Balabantaray have denied the charges.