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In a setback to BJP nationwide vice-president Baijayant Panda, the Orissa High Court has refused to intervene in a case of alleged grabbing of land belonging to individuals belonging to the Dalit neighborhood by an organization owned by Panda.
The case is being investigated by Odisha Police below numerous sections of IPC and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The courtroom additionally cleared the way for the arrest of Panda and his spouse Jagi, co-promoter of the corporate, Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd (OIPL), by vacating all earlier interim orders. The HC had earlier handed an interim order granting them safety towards arrest.
The Pandas had moved HC for quashing the FIR towards them and OIPL.
On Saturday, the Pandas denied all allegations towards them and blamed the event on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s vendetta politics. “…There has been no wrongdoing by us and we are confident that this will ultimately be proved in the courts,” Jagi Panda mentioned in an announcement.
In the order pronounced on Friday, Justice B P Routray mentioned: “I am not inclined to interfere with the criminal proceedings, more particularly at the stage of pending investigation. Accordingly, the prayer of the petitioners is rejected and the Criminal Misc. Case is dismissed. All interim orders passed stand vacated.”
The Pandas had alleged in their petition that the FIR was a outcome of “malice” and “ulterior motive” on the behest of “the ruling political party”. The courtroom rejected the allegation on the bottom that “the same is not found with supported materials”.
On October 31, the Economic Offence Wing of Odisha Police had registered an FIR alleging that one Rabindra Kumar Sethi, an individual from Dalit neighborhood who was as soon as a driver with Panda’s firm ORTEL Communication Ltd, was allegedly pressured by the Pandas to buy 7.294 acres of land from 22 Dalit individuals in Odisha’s Khurda district between 2010 and 2013. This was to allegedly circumvent state legal guidelines that forestall buy of land owned by Dalits by non-Dalits.
The land was allegedly bought at 50 per cent of the market worth, based on the FIR. This land was later taken over by OIPL for actual property growth from Sethi for declared consideration of Rs 65 lakh, though no quantity was allegedly paid to Sethi, based on the FIR.
Sources mentioned Sethi was proven to have bought this patch of land — falling in between a 100-acre plot that Pandas had been creating – together with his month-to-month wage of Rs 8,000.
A senior Odisha Police officer mentioned, “Sethi and others (from whom land was purchased) have already recorded their statements before a magistrate.”
In Odisha, below the Land Revenue Act, Dalits should not allowed to promote their total land holding to non-Dalits with out permission of the district collector.
In an announcement, Jagi Panda mentioned: “In the past two months Odisha police have registered about 20 false cases against OTV, its sister companies, employees and my family members, including my 84-year-old father…. We vehemently deny these allegations…. We assert that these cases are being orchestrated by the 21-year-old BJD government in Odisha, because of CM Naveen Patnaik’s personal vendetta against us.”
On allegations in the FIR, the courtroom order acknowledged, “In the context of the allegations, it is seen that the petitioners used opposite party No. 3 (Sethi) as an instrument or to say, as the ‘sham purchaser’ to get the land in their favour. When the investigation is still continuing and at the beginning [initial] stage, the contention that materials are not justifying for investigation is thus not found correct. It also cannot be said that the allegations are so absurd or inherently improbable.”
The Pandas argued in courtroom that none of the offences below SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is made out or constituted, however it has been intentionally added to disclaim them the profit of anticipatory bail. The courtroom rejected this and noticed that the allegations “definitely fall within” particular clauses of the Act.
The Pandas had submitted that the FIR had been registered to settle a rating, as OTV, owned by them, had broadcast a dialog of two associates referring to their expertise at a Covid hospital.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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