Land grab charge against Sura baba in Odisha’s Balasore too

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Sep 1, 2015 at 3:47 AM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Balasore, Sep 1:

Men who gifted land to now arrested godman Sura Baba in order to build an Ashram in Balasore town in north Odisha have brought land grab allegations and have moved court against him.

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Manoranjan Sahu, one of his disciples who played a part in the land leasing process and later brought land grab allegation against him, said that the matter is now pending in Balasore civil court.

As per information provided by him, the Ashram, which is located in Salabani near Remuna Golei of Balasore had built a Jagannath Temple on parts of land from Khata number-508 and Khasada number -542. This land was earlier owned by three sons of Jaladhara Sahu, namely Niranjan, Manoranjan and Chittaranjan Sahu.

While 68.1 decimal land was leased to Sri Sri Sri Achyutandanda Mahapurusha Trust by the brothers, the ashram went on to grab another 5.7 decimals of land illegally, said Sahu.

Later Manoranjan Sahu, the celebate one among the brothers, donated his portion of the land to Kshetramohan Das Patnaik of the Trust. The trust, however, didn’t pay the Rs 1000 a year as committed to the brothers forcing Niranjan and Chittaranjan to approach the court.

The trust went on to argue in the court that they had paid a one-time lumpsum to the brothers. However, the argument was challenged by the brothers. Following the court order to investigate the signature of Niranjan provided by the trust in its supporting documents, the trust went for an out of court settlement.

The settlement was reached on May 18, 2012 and stated that Manoranjan Sahu would have unrestricted entry to the Ashram. The Ashram, soon after the agreement, went back on the commitments and denied entry to Manoranjan. Besides, while the court had ruled to maintain status quo at the 5.7 decimals of encroached land, the Ashram authorities built a kitchen and office on it.

Even though Manoranjan had approached Surendra Mishra alias Sura baba regarding this, the baba tried his best to suppress the matter, said Manoranjan.