By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: With ADG Crime Branch has been asked to look into the land scam in Ghangapatna , heads are started rolling.First action came from CMO after the ruling BJD changed its Deputy Chief Whip in Odisha Assembly.
The outgoing DCW BJD MLA Pranab Balabantray, Dharmasala, Jajpur, was one of accused , so he was shifted and Rohit Pujari, another Party MLA from Redhakhol, Western Odisha districts of Sambalpur given the baton. Notably, Pujari had held the post in the 14th Odisha Legislative Assembly during the fourth BJD Government.
Balabantaray, among some political leaders, is alleged to have complicity in the land scam, which was exposed in August 2014. While CM had ordered a Crime Branch probe, the latter arrested some officials only.
While the main reason behind the development was yet to be cleared, sources said the recent Lokayukta notice to the Crime Branch ADG asking him to submit inquiry report of the Ghangapatna land scam has prompted the BJD supremo to take such a decision.
In August 2014, local people and media had exposed that acres of leased land of tribal people had been illegally acquired by late Kalpataru Das and his MLA son Pranab Balabantaray and daughter of BJP MLA KV Singh Deo and many powerful people connected with the BJD in the Ghangapatana area under Bhubaneswar tehsil.
During that time, the Tehsildar, in his report to the Revenue Department, had pointed out large-scale irregularities in the sale and purchase of land in Ghangapatana.
The Lokayukta issued the notice to the Crime Branch on the petition of RTI activist Pradeep Pradhan who had sought actions against all persons involved in the scam.
Meanwhile, the Lokayukta has issued a notice to the Additional Director General, Crime Branch asking him to submit a detailed report on inquiry into the Ghangapatna land scam by October 17, 2019 and fixed October 21 as the next date of hearing.
