BALANGIR: Days after a case was registered against Balangir tehsildar and seven others for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent land transaction, Sadar police arrested three persons in this connection on Monday.
The arrested are land seller Uttam Bag, the buyer's husband Madhav Prusti and his driver Debraj Rout. The arrests were made following a police complaint by one Abdul Sandh who accused Balangir tehsildar along with seven other people of illegally selling land at Dhumamara village which was in the name of his late father Harsha Sandh.
As per the complaint, one of the accused Uttam Nag, a native of Sikabaenga village within Puintala police limits, had fraudulently sold the 1.5 acre land to Labani Prusti by posing as Harsha who had died way back in 2005.
The land transfer was reportedly facilitated and record of rights issued by the tehsildar when the revenue office was closed during December 11-12 last year. The matter came to Abdul's notice when Labani went to claim the land in January.
Two weeks back, he went to verify the land record and got to know about the illegal transfer from the sub-registrar’s office. Subsequently, Abdul filed a complaint and police started investigation leading to the arrests.
Sources said that Balangir Collector Chanchal Rana has directed the Additional Collector Ananta Narayan Singh Laguri and Sub-Collector Lambodar Dharua to start an investigation into the matter. Balangir tehsildar Maghaban Bag has, however, dismissed the allegations.
On the other hand, a local scribe Biswajit Das has accused assistant sub-inspector of Sadar police station, Rabindra Kumbhar, of misbehaviour when he went to collect data on the land issue. Balangir SP Nitin Kushalkar has assured needful action against the errant officer after verification of CCTV footage.