Odisha: EOW arrests one more in Sarua land scam

Bhubaneswar: Intensifying its probe into the alleged Sarua land scam in Khordha district, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch today arrested another person associated with Odisha Infratech Pvt. Ltd. (OITL), owned by BJP National Vice President Baijayant Panda and wife Jagi Mangat Panda.

After questioning for hours, the EOW arrested Siba Prasad Shrichandan, who is the Power of Attorney holder for Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd.

It is worth to be mentioned that Baijayant Panda (35,90,000 shares), Jagi Mangat Panda (1,25,418 shares), Panda Investments (12,000 shares) owned by Baijayant Panda have shares in Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd.

Yesterday, the sleuths arrested Manoranjan Sarangi, one of the Directors of Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd and the Chief Financial Officer of OTV Network Ltd, for his alleged involvement in Sarua land scam.

Meanwhile, contractual employees of OTV Network have been staging protest in front of the main gate of the company’s Sarua office since yesterday. They began the demonstration after authorities of the company’s Sarua office told the agitators that they no longer have their jobs left.

One of the agitators said, “We gave away our land to OTV for setting up of an office at Sarua after its authorities promised us to provide life-long employment. Now they are tellings us that we no longer have jobs at the company. How will we sustain?”