New Delhi: Orissa’s high court has cleared the way for the arrest of BJP National Vice President Baijayant Panda and his wife, Jagi Mangat Panda, in a case of alleged land fraud by a company owned by Panda. The court had previously approved an interim order granting them protection against arrest. The Odisha Police are investigating the case under various sections of the IPC and the SC / ST (Atrocity Prevention) Act.
On October 31, the Economic Crimes Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police had registered an FIR against pandas after one Rabindra Kumar Sethi, a former driver of the Panda company ORTEL Communication Ltd, complained that pandas forced him to buy 7,294 acres of land from 22 SC owners in the Khurda district of Odisha between 2010 and 2013.
Sethi had said that by forcing him to make a deal, the pandas circumvented the Odisha Agrarian Reform Law and the Land Revenue Law which prohibited non-Dalits from buying Dalit-owned land without the permission of the district collector. The FIR notes that the disputed land was purchased at nearly 50% market value by Sethi, and was subsequently acquired for real estate development by Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd (OIPL), in which Pandas has a 90% stake, for Rs 65. lakh. The FIR also says that Sethi did not receive any amounts for the transaction.
Sethi first went to the Khurda district collector to complain about this alleged illegal land deal. The servicer recommended a Crime Branch investigation that found these fraud allegations to be true and arrested two people: Manoranjan Sarangi, a director of OIPL, and another employee, Siba Prasad Srichandan.
According to a senior police officer who spoke with The wireBoth detainees have stated that they were not full-time employees of OIPL and that “all decisions and actions were taken according to the direction and instruction of the owners of OIPL, Baijayant Panda and Jagi Mangat Panda.”
The court order
The case is now being investigated by the EOW under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including the non-bail provisions of the SC / ST (Atrocity Prevention) Act. The Pandas are also charged with violating the provisions of the Scheduled Breed Atrocities Act, the Odisha Land Reform Act, the Benami Property Transaction Prohibition Act, and the Income Tax Act. The EOW found that the majority of transactions during the land purchase were conducted in cash.
Against this backdrop, the high court on Friday struck down its own earlier November 5 interim order granting protection to pandas from arrest, and refused to intervene in the case in the event of any impending arrest of the duo.
“I am not inclined to interfere in the criminal process, more particularly in the pending investigation stage. Consequently, the petitioners’ and criminal Misc. case is dismissed. All provisional orders approved are annulled, “said judge BP Routray in his order while dismissing the request made by the pandas to annul the FIR.
The court order also noted, “In the context of the allegations, it is seen that the petitioners used the opposing party No. 3 (Sethi) as an instrument or as the ‘false buyer’ to obtain the land in their favor. When the investigation is still ongoing and at the beginning [initial] stage, the claim that the materials do not justify the investigation is not considered correct. Nor can the allegations be said to be so absurd or inherently unlikely. “
The seven acres of disputed land that Sethi bought are among a 100-acre parcel that the Pandas owned and were developing in Sarua, Khurda. About 10 acres of land in the middle of this stretch belonged to Dalits that only a Dalit could have bought, the police officer said.
“Sethi was only earning Rs 8,000 per month as a salary, but thousands of rupees were negotiated in these land purchases,” he said. The wire.
“There is no financial transaction between Sethi and the people from whom he allegedly bought land,” said an Odisha police officer. said to Indian express. “The Pandas also didn’t pay Sethi money to buy more. Everything is on paper only, indicating (alleged) cash transactions and culpability under the Benami Transactions Law. Sethi and others (from whom the land was bought) have already registered their statements before a magistrate, ”he added.
The Odisha Land Revenue Law empowers the district collector to ensure that if Dalits sell part of their land to non-Dalits, they do not do so under duress. “That’s why (the pandas) used Sethi, since he had his own ancestral land. According to the law, you can sell part of your property to a non-Dalit, but not all of it, ”the police officer told the national daily.
The police officer who spoke to The wire He said a similar “benaami” land deal came to light three days ago in which pandas may have had a role to play in Puri district. “It is possible that the Pandas used the same modus operandi in many places in Odisha,” he said.
The pandas strike back
In a statement issued on Saturday, Jagi Panda said: “We have not committed any crime and we are confident that this will finally be proven in court.” He said the accusations against them were nothing more than the “policy of vendetta” of Odisha Prime Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Even in their plea to court, the Pandas had said that the FIR was the result of the “malice” and “ulterior motive” of the Biju Janata Dal, which Baijayant Panda left to join the BJP before the 2019 parliamentary elections.
In court, the Pandas had said that the SC / ST (Atrocity Prevention) Act was added to the case only to deny them advance bond. However, the court rejected his statement and said that the crimes established in the FIR “definitely fall within” the Atrocities Law. The Pandas also said that the FIR was vindictively presented because OTV, a news channel they owned, had been broadcasting reports critical of the state government’s failures, including its recent coverage showing corruption in the management of FIR funds. help COVID-19.
“In the last two months, the Odisha police have registered about 20 false cases against OTV, its sister companies, employees and members of my family, including my 84-year-old father…. We vehemently deny these accusations…. We affirm that these cases are being orchestrated by the 21-year-old BJD government in Odisha, due to CM Naveen Patnaik’s personal revenge against us, ”said Jagi Panda in his statement.
“It is no secret that ever since my husband Jay Panda started talking about the widespread corruption of the BJD five years ago, and then joined the BJP, the government of Odisha and the BJD have been attacking and harassing members of our family and organizations. and entities connected with us, as well as actual violence against us in various places.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders such as Ram Madhav have supported Baijayant Panda and have accused the Odisha government of retaliatory actions against him.
The Orissa government is doing to OTV what Maharashtra did to Republic. Promoter of the channel dn wife of the leader of BJP @PandaJay, @JagiPanda n your staff at OTV r faces harassment from the police clearly due to political revenge. CM Naveen as a progressive leader should not allow this in his state pic.twitter.com/iyX4QIeUhB
– Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) November 22, 2020
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