Bhubaneswar: As many as four Revenue Inspectors (RI) and a former Tehsildar were arrested by the Vigilance officials for their links in the land fraud case in Odisha.
According to reports, former Tehsildar of Kujang, Ramesh Chandra Panda, who is the current Tehsildar of Tihidi, Mahendra Prasad Mohanty, Ex- Sub-Collector, Jagatsinghpur, Santosh Kumar Mallick, Ex-Revenue Inspector, Jhimani, RI Circle, Narendra Kumar Lenka, Ex-Revenue Inspector, Paradeep Garh, Subash Chandra Das, Ex- Revenue Inspector, Kujanga and Jyoti Bhusan Barik an Ex-Revenue Inspector of Pandua Circle have been arrested for their links with the land fraud case.
Earlier in the day, the anti-corruption team had conducted raids at the premises belonging to six retired government officials in connection with a major land fraud case.
A total of 9 teams led by one Additional SP, 11 DSPs, 6 inspector rank officers conducted raids at 9 places including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Jagatsinghpur districts.
Odisha government has launched the Vasundhara scheme with an aims to provide land to homesteadless families on free of premium basis. However, it is alleged that accused officials had given land to ineligible beneficiaries. They also had allegedly taken money from the poor people to give lands.
Ms Kalinga