By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s 2 most trusted lieutenants, read 5T Secretary VK Pandian and BJD’s Minister maker Jajpur MLA, Pranab Prakash Das alias Bobby, seems in no mood to let the high profile BJP National VP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda and his model turned media baron wife, Jagi Panda, who heads State’s No-1 OTV, free, over the alleged land scam in Khorda and Puri districts.
A day after BJD Rajya Sabha MP Dr Amar Patnaik, who had sought a reply from Jay Panda and his wife Jagi Panda over the allegations of former Ortel driver Rabi Sethi, BJD MLA Bobby Das on Friday asked the BJP VP to clarify his stand if he wanted to prove himself as transparent and honest.
“Truth has prevailed! Time for @PandaJay to start speaking it too. Why did he cheat a poor SC farmer? Why was driver Rabi Sethy pressured into buying SC land? Were more such needy people cheated of their land?,” BJD General Secretary (Organisation) and MLA Pranab Prakash Das tweeted @pranabpdas.
“With VK Pandian closely monitoring the issue backed by Bobby Das’s timely inputs and Crime Branch of State Police headed by able ADGP S Priyadarshi looking the matter very seriously and making regular arrest of top executives of Panda family owned media company, Jay and Jagi may likely to face more isolation if Court not came into their rescue over arrest,” highly placed sources said.
The Odisha unit of BJP, which is mostly dominated by Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and his close aids, seems keeping a mum with Naveen Patnaik keep continuing haunting of Panda family’s alleged mining and media business in the State by conducting searches and arrested senior executives.Apprehending arrest, the Jay Panda and his wife Jagi Panda, had moved the Odisha High Court seeking anticipatory bail.Both had got interim relief in the Sarua land scam case as the High Court directed not to arrest the couple till November 12.
Earlier on Thursday, while sharing a vedio message of Rabi Sethi, BJD MP and National spokesperson, Dr Patnaik had stepped up his attack on BJP National VP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda and his media baron model turn entrepreneur wife, Jagi Panda over the illegal land grabbing issue, which had alreday under scanner of the Crime Branch of State Police.
“He doesn’t know where all has Jay Panda used him to fool more people. But the people of Odisha have a right to know! Right to know where and how has Jay Panda stabbed them in the back like a Jaya Chandra! Utterly shameful,deplorable & reprehensible!@PMOIndia@AmitShah @BJP4India,” BJD Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Amar Patnaik tweeted @Amar4Odisha.
“I Rabi Sethi from Kakulaba under Darsingh Police Station of Ganjam, worked from 2001 to 2017 with Ortel , at that time, my salary was Rs 7000, . In 2010, Ortel , a subsidiary of OTV network, people had approached me to purchase a land that belongs to SC family. As I am SC , they put pressure on me to purchase the land in his name and apprehending job loss, I had agreed with them but now I came to know , that BJP leader Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda owned company also purchased land in his name in Puri,” the former Ortel Driver Sethi said. Sethi demanded action against Jay Panda and his wife Jagi Panda, who heads the OTV network. Sethi requested Government to return the purchased land to the poor family. Sethi however wondered as to why, State Government not taking action against Baijayant Panda and Jagi Panda despite the fact that they had illegally purchased land in his name.
“#JayPandaTheLandMafioso.First Sarua (Khurda),now Puri. New revelation that poor semi-literate driver Rabi Sethi has been used by the Don as a benamidar conduit to buy SC land in Puri also. Shocked me & like me,people of Odisha. @PandaJay@narendramodi,” Dr Patnaik alleged in another tweet.
“Jay is a classic example of human greed,greed for land, water,air…. everything!I pray Lord Jagannath to give him the ‘sadbuddhi’(correct moral value) to return all those land to the poor people whom he has hoodwinked using people like Rabi Sethi to satisfy his humongous greed,” the BJD MP said.
“Belonging to a general caste, Jay couldn’t buy SC land and so this slyness, malice, manipulation and treachery to the people of Odisha! Gandhiji had rightly said that there is enough on Earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed,” he said.
“#JayPandaTheLandMafioso.First Sarua (Khurda),now Puri. New revelation that poor semi-literate driver Rabi Sethi has been used by the Don as a benamidar conduit to buy SC land in Puri also. Shocked me & like me,people of Odisha. @PandaJay @narendramodi,” Dr Patnaik tweeted.
“It is this same Rabi Sethi, his SC driver, who Jay had earlier used to grab SC lands from atleast 24 Scheduled caste families in Sarua, Khurda making them landless and impoverished for life.
@PandaJay@narendramodi@PMOIndia@AmitShah@BJP4India@BJP4Odisha,” BJD MP added in another tweet.
Few days back, Randhir Singh, father of Jagi Panda, had issued a video appeal to the Union Home Minister of India, Amit Shah, seeking protection from the excesses of the police officials against his family and employees at the channel’s studio in Sarua, Khordha, under the pretext of carrying an investigation into a land issue.
“The family members and employees are living under house-arrest like conditions for the last 10 days due to unprecedented police aggression. I have never seen police officials behaving like goondas. They had entered premises at 3 am and arrested our site head. We and the villagers are working to provide hundreds of jobs but the government has made this place hell. Police say they have orders from the top. I urge Amit Shah ji to deploy forces and protect us,” Singh had said.It may be noted here that that site in-charge at Sarua, Anirudhha Panda, was arrested. Before Panda, 3 other employees working with the OTV were arrested in 20 cases.
Odisha Police had already requested the Income Tax department to investigate the benami transaction angle in the land scam allegedly committed by Odisha Infra Tech Private Limited during purchase of land from scheduled caste people at Sarua village in Khurda district.
The Economic Offence Wing will continue to probe into other aspects of the case while IT has been recommended to probe into the benami transaction as per the provision of Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act.
Naming BJP national vice-president and former MP Baijaynt Panda and his wife Jagi Mangat Panda as promoters of the Odisha Infra Tech Private Limited, the EOW had said: “Odisha Infra Tech Private Limited used a driver (belonging to schedule caste) of one of the directors, to act as a conduit to purchase these lands.”
The investigating agency said more than 7 acres of land was purchased by the company in the name of one Rabi Sethi and later sold. However, he (Sethi) was never in possession of the land. Scheduled Caste (SC) people have been cheated in the incident while Rabi Sethi was used as a conduit.
The account of Sethi has been verified by EOW and no money was given in this regard to him. Later, it also came to light that the lands bought in 2010 to 2013 in the name of Sethi and later sold in 2016 and 2019 to OIPL was never in the possession of Sethi.
It said the lands were purchased from villagers of Sarua in Begunia block of Khurda district between June, 2010 and June, 2013 at much lower price from villagers in the name of Rabi Sethi, who was working as a driver of one of the directors of the firm.Possession of the land was never with Sethi, rather it was taken over by the firm.The Government of Odisha had ordered a Crime Branch probe in the land scam matter. Manoranjan Sarangi, a director of the Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd and also a senior executive of Panda owned OTV, and one Siba Prasad Srichandan, dealings with the company, have been arrested by the EOW.
