The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) on Saturday arrested KM Rao, the promoter of Odisha Construction and Techno-Engineering Cooperative Society, in connection with the two acre land fraud in Patia.
Earlier, the EOW had arrested a former tehsildar of Bhubaneswar Phalguni Singh and his brother Sabyasachi Sinha in this connection. Trailing the connection of Rao, a team arrested him here on Saturday.
According to Deputy Inspector General of EOW Rajesh Kumar, during his tenure as tehsildar, Singh had allegedly acquired a two-acre land in Patia and settled the same in the name of his brother Sabyasachi using fraudulent means in 1979. The patch was a wasteland and its current value is estimated at over ` 10 crore.After settling the record of rights in his brother’s name, the duo got a third person in whose name the power of attorney was drawn. Using the power of attorney, the land was sold to Rao who subsequently sold it to a number of people, Kumar informed.
In January this year, when the matter came to light, the EOW registered a case and arrested the brothers and charged them under Sections 465/467/468/471/418/420 and 120 (b) of Indian Penal Code. Rao too will face the same charges.