Sambalpur: Sub-Registrar of Sambalpur district in Odisha and four others have been arrested in connection alleged fraud in the sale of land.
Sources said sub-registrar Surya Narayan Samal was taken into custody for his involvement in the alleged sale of a piece of land belonging to a deceased person by portraying him as alive. The same land subsequently sold to another set of buyers.
As per information, the plot measuring around 21 decimal is situated in Budharaja area of Sambalpur and belongs to the family of Binod Gupta, who had passed away. However, the sub-registrar allegedly put up the plot for sale and roped in prospective buyers.
The accused official then reportedly proceeded to forge the status of the original owner, Binod Gupta, and claimed that he was alive. Subsequently, the land was sold to Venkata Balaji Patra and his brother, Sujit Patra, of Bhubaneswar by using forged documents and signatures.
A few months later, the two brothers sold the land to another buyer named Shyama Trading, making Sumit Das and Chiranjeevi Guru of Sambalpur the second ‘illegal’ buyers of the land.
The alleged fraud took place without the knowledge of the family of the deceased original landowner. They came to know about the fraud when Sumit Das and Chiranjeevi Guru tried to take possession of the land. Subsequently, they filed a police complaint with the Town police station.
On the other hand, the sub-registrar also lodged a police complaint around the same time, alleging that the first ‘unauthorised’ buyers, Venkata Balaji and Sujit Patra, were threatening him with dire consequences.
Based on official’s complaint, police arrested Venkata and Sujit. Following further investigation and the complaint from the original owner’s family, the police also arrested sub-registrar after conducting initial investigation.
This apart, his two accomplices, Sriranjan Pattnaik and Chandra Prasad Dunguria, were also taken into custody.
Further investigation is in progress and further details are awaited.
