SAMBALPUR: Sambalpur police has made another arrest in connection with the land scam, just days after uncovering the scandal that led to the arrest of five persons, including district sub-registrar.
The latest arrest of Srikanta Munda is linked to forgery and fraudulent deal involving one of the previous accused, Venkat Balaji Patra, who has been identified as a major land shark.
The case came to light after 56-year-old Bandhu Munda of Gengutipali lodged a complaint with Sambalpur Town police on Wednesday. His ancestral property of 4.16 acre was illegally acquired through forged documents. Bandhu stated that he is one of the recorded tenants of the plot. His grandfather, Birsa Munda, had three sons including his father Chanku Munda and uncles Budhu and Malli munda.
However, Malli Munda passed away without any descendants. Police said Patra conspired with accused Srikanta to fabricate documents falsely claiming the existence of a son of Malli Munda. Taking advantage of an existing land dispute in the Munda family, Patra approached Bandhu and other family members to help demarcate their individual land portions and resolve any civil disputes. Trusting him, they unknowingly provided their thumb impressions and signatures on documents that were later misused to execute a fraudulent general power of attorney (GPA) in 2010.
Under this false GPA, Srikanta impersonated as ‘Santosh Munda,’ a fictitious son of Malli Munda, to execute land transactions. Using the forged documents, Patra purchased the entire 4 acre land. Investigation revealed Patra also obtained a significant compensation amount from the Railways claiming it on behalf of the original landowners but withdrawing it for himself.
The police are currently investigating how much compensation was obtained and whether additional fraudulent transactions took place. This case is now closely linked to the larger Sambalpur land scam, which was exposed last week.