Bolangir: The state government Wednesday suspended the Bolangir tehsildar and additional tehsildar for their alleged involvement in sale of land belonging to a dead person by forging documents. The suspended tehsildar and additional tehsildar were identified as Maghaban Bagh and Harekrushna Rout respectively.
Moreover, Sadar police also arrested the record keeper-cum-senior revenue assistant Makardhwaj Kalsai, 46, on the charge and produced him in court Wednesday. Earlier, police had arrested three persons on charges of land grab. The two were suspended on the basis of a report submitted by the district Collector.
Collector Chanchal Rana said a complaint was lodged on land grab following which a twomember team comprising additional district magistrate and sub-collector was formed to conduct a probe. The team submitted its report which was then sent to the state government for action.
Acting on the report, the state government suspended the two senior revenue officials from their service, the Collector said. He added that further investigations are on by the district administration and police. It was alleged that the tehsildar’s digital signature, ID and password were used on holidays and 1.5 acre of land belonging to a dead person was sold off. The new land owner was also issued a patta (Record of Rights). Presumably, Bagh is the mastermind of this land scam.
The group prepared fake identity cards in the names of dead persons and in turn sold their lands, a senior official in Sadar police station said. After mutations, pattas were also prepared for the grabbed lands. The scam came to the fore due to the case of Harsha Sandha. The police complaint lodged recently by Harsha’s son Abdul Sandha states that he died in 2005. He owned a patch of land behind Adarsh Vidyalaya under Dhumamara mouza. After his death, his family used to depend on the land for agriculture. The land was the only source of income for the poor family.
However, Harsha’s family was shocked to see that the land has been sold to Labani Prusty, wife of Madhab Prusty of Gopabandhu Nagar in Bolangir, and that it was done after his death. The sale deed was prepared December 11, 2021. One Uttam Nag of Sikabehenga identified himself as Harsha Sandha and submitted forged documents in the sub-registrar office and signed on the sale deed of 50 decimal of land. The probe revealed that though Harsha’s family possessed his death certificate, the deceased’s identity card was used to execute the sale deed. Harsha’s photo in the identity card was replaced with that of another elderly person. In place of seller’s signature, tehsildar Bagh allegedly used a fake thumb impression on the sale deed.