Four held in Rupees 1,000 crore Orissa land scam

Bhubaneswar, Nov 7 : Four people, including a former government official, have been arrested in Orissa for allegedly acquiring and selling government land worth Rupees 1,000 crore, police said Saturday.

The four are said to be part of a gang comprising builders and government officials who transferred land into their names illegally and then sold and re-sold the property to different people a number of times.

While three people were arrested Thursday, Nirmal Chandra Mohanty, a former officer of the state administrative service, was arrested Friday, Inspector General of Police (Crime Branch) Arun Ray told IANS.

"The multi-crore land scam took place when Mohanty was posted as a tehsildar. We have also come across similar land scams in Bhubaneswar during our investigation," he said.

"We are collecting evidence. Some more people are likely to be arrested soon," Ray added.

The government's general administration department had filed a police complaint in 2005 after it found that some of its land had been illegally occupied.

The case was handed over to the crime branch in October 2008 after the police failed to make much headway.

--IANS