The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Saturday arrested three brothers for allegedly making a false claim on a whopping 113-acre Government land in Mundali, about 30 km from Bhubaneswar.
Presenting 70-year-old land rent (khazana) papers, the family had staked claim over the land which is still in occupation of the State Government in Mundali mouza under Barang tehsil.
The trio was identified as Dhananjaya Mohapatra, Surendra Mohapatra and Jagannath Mohapatra. They have been booked under Sections 420/467/468/471/167 and 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code.
A Joint Commissioner level officer of Consolidation and Settlement wing is also under scanner of the EOW for prima facie not turning down the claim filed by the family seven years ago.
The State Government had referred the case to EOW in October last year after receiving a report from Barang Tehsildar who had rejected the claim made by Mohapatra family. According DIG, EOW, Rajesh Kumar, the siblings along with a realtor UK Nanda had planned to stake claim over the property after land prices shot up in the area. In 2006, their mother Rama Devi filed the claim before the Joint Commissioner (C&S) by submitting three land “khazana” documents which were at least 70 year old.
“The Joint Commissioner directed the case to Barang Tehsildar in 2009 asking him to treat the case on merit. However, the Tehsildar did not entertain the claim and informed the Government which asked the EOW to probe,” Kumar told mediapersons here on Saturday.
Land khazana is not an authentic document to stake ownership of land and such documents can also be fabricated easily, the DIG said.
Meanwhile, the realtor as well as the trio’s mother have passed away. The Mohapatra family also challenged the Tehsildar’s order and filed a case in the Orissa High Court where it is pending.
Interestingly, even as EOW was probing the case, it wrote to the Revenue and Disaster Management Department seeking to know who was posted as the Joint Commissioner at that time only to receive a reply that no officer in that rank was at the helm in 2006.