Sundargarh fake RoR case: another accused arrested

Reported by Malay Ray
Sundargarh, Sep 10:

Another person was  arrested and forwarded to court today in the case of preparation of forged record of rights (RoR) of government land near the NTPC project at Darlipalli and Raidi in Odisha’s Sundargarh district.

Of the 63 accused identified by Sundargarh police for their involvement in the land fraud, eight had been arrested earlier while the others are absconding.

On the direction of Sundargarh district Collector Bhupinder Singh Punia, Lephripada Additional Tehsildar Ghanshyam Munda had lodged an FIR in the case.

Sources said the forgery had come to the fore after four persons, all of them residents of Lephripada block, allegedly lured some tehsil officials of Lepripada to help them prepare the RoR for 6.44 acres of government land in their name. They did it after coming to know that NTPC was going to set up a power plant there and had claimed compensation from NTPC’s Super Thermal Power Project on the basis of the fraudulent RoR.

The then Additional Tehsildar PC Bipra and two other Tehsil officials of Lehpripada Tehsil reportedly had played a major role in preparing the forged RoR. When land acquisition started for the NTPC project in 2005, four persons produced the fake RoRs and claimed compensation amounting to Rs 1.29 crore. But settlement officials had smelt a rat and did not release the compensation.

The four denied compenstaion had then moved the Odisha High Court, seeking a direction to the NTPC to release their compensation. The High Court had directed the then Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Sundargarh to inquire into the matter. During the investigation, the fraud was established and a report was sent to the High Court.

Soon thereafter, Lepripada Additional Tehsildar had lodged an FIR in Lephripada police station regarding the fraud, After registering a case on November 2, 2014 based on the additional tehsildar’s FIR, Lephripada police had started investigating the case. During investigation, according to police, 63 persons were identified as having played a part in this fraudulent act.  On August 22, 2015, Sundargarh police had arrested eight persons in this case, including the son of Additional Tehsldar PC Bipra.

On Thursday, Sundargarh police arrested a person identified as Seshadeb  Patel (45), a resident of Kurumkel under Lephripada police station. He was forwarded to court in the afternoon. According to sources, five accused in this case have obtained anticipatory bail.

“We  have arrested and court forwarded Seshadeb Patel  in  this case,” said  R Prakash, Superintendent of  Police, Sundargarh. “Our efforts are on to arrest other 49 accused in this case,” he added.