Sarua Land-Grabbing Case: OIPL Promoters Baijayant Panda, Jagi Mangat Panda Move High Court For Anticipatory Bail

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Bhubaneswar: Promoters of Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd (OIPL) Baijayant Panda and Jagi Mangat Panda have reportedly moved the Orissa High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the Sarua landing grabbing case.

In their petition, both Baijayant Panda and Jagi Mangat Panda have mentioned that they are shareholders. However, Baijayant was never it’s director. Besides, he was never involved in the company’s business management.

Likewise, they claimed that Jagi Mangat was OIPL’s director from 23.09.2008 to 13.03.2010. Later, Bibhu Prasad Rath and Manoranjan Sarangi took charge as the company’s directors and were managing its entire business. One Rabindra Kumar Sethi was posted as Bibhu Prasad’s driver.

The OIPL’s directors had decided to purchase 100 acres of land in Sarua in Odisha’s Khurda district which were owned by Dalits to set up a film city in the area.

The company has reportedly bought 7.294 acres of land from 22 SC owners using Rabindra as the land aggregator. However, both Baijayant Panda and Jagi Mangat Panda have now blamed the directors over the land grabbing case.

Currently, the State Crime Branch, which is probing the case, is looking into different angles of the case and mulling over taking steps as per the law of the land.

Earlier, the Orissa high court had passed an interim order granting Baijayant Panda and Jagi Mangat Panda protection against arrest. Later it cleared the path for their arrest following which it was assumed that both of them would be arrested at any moment. But it is said that the Crime Branch is unable to take action against Baijayant Panda and Jagi Mangat as it is currently busy probing the disproportionate asset case involving arrested Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son Akash Pathak.

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