BERHAMPUR: A fresh case of land grabbing was filed against former Congress MLA Ramesh Jena by Berhampur Police on Saturday. According to a complaint lodged by a resident of Bada Bazaar area, Jena forcibly purchased his four acres of land at Nimakhandi at a cost of Rs 16 lakh in 2013.
The land was registered in the name of R Murali, Jena’s associate, with Arakhita Jena (Jena’s father) as a witness. Jena tried to sell off the land after plotting but no buyer evinced interest. After six months, Jena asked the land owner to take back the land and refund the money.
When the land owner returned Rs 16 lakh, Jena demanded Rs 25 lakh from him and the former conceded.
After Jena’s arrest and police assurance, the land owner lodged a complaint against Jena at Bada Bazaar police station and subsequently, a land grabbing case was registered against Jena, Arakhita and Murali, said Berhampur SP Sarthak Sadangi.
Another allegation of land grabbing against Jena came to the fore on Saturday wherein he and his aides took 8,400 sq feet of land on the outskirts of the city from the land owner for plotting during 2013, but have not paid the cost of the land to the owner so far. The matter is under investigation, Sadangi said.
He said a realtor Babula Sahani, who was involved in a land grabbing case of Gandhinagar along with Jena and Murali, is absconding. Three other realtors - Tulu Mangaraj, Sanjay Panigrahi and Siba Padhi - who had been asked by the police to appear for questioning - are also absconding.
A group of realtors whose names were found in the diary of Jena were asked to appear before the police for questioning. Of them, only one realtor, Sanatan Jena, has been interrogated.
The SP said Sanatan had links with a ponzi firm Green India. He has also cheated a land owner of Rs 1.5 crore with support from Jena.
On the other hand, a land grabbing complaint was also lodged with Sadar Police on Saturday against Congress leader S Sujit and Pradeep Swain, nephew of Ramesh. As per the complaint, the two purchased a patch of four acres of land in Baoulojholi village under Sadar police limits but paid only Rs 1.21 lakh as advance. When the owner demanded the remaining amount, they threatened him with dire consequences.
Meanwhile, Santosh Behera, a close aide of Jena, who was recently arrested from Bhubaneswar, was brought on a week-long remand to Berhampur on Saturday. The SP said since Behera was associated with Jena and worked for him in various Western Odisha districts, police are hopeful of gathering more evidence on Jena’s crime empire.