Bhubaneswar: In what could be the biggest raids in the recent times, the Odisha Vigilance Department is conducting simultaneous raids at more than ten places in connection with the Basundhara land scam. Residences and offices of six government officials associated with the alleged scam are being searched by the vigilance department at various places including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Jagatsinghpur. The vigilance teams include one Additional SP, 11 DSPs and Six Inspectors. The officials involved in the alleged scam include 1) Ramesh Chandra Panda, OAS Ex-Tahasildar, Kujang a/p Tahasildar- Tihidi 2) Mahendra Prasad Mohanty, OAS, Retd, Ex- Sub-Collector, Jagatsinghpur 3) Santosh Kumar Mallick, Ex-Revenue Inspector, Jhimani, RI Circle, 4) Narendra Kumar Lenka, Ex-Revenue Inspector, Paradeep Garh, Retd. 5) Subash Chandra Das, Ex- Revenue Inspector, Kujanga 6) Jyoti Bhusan Barik, Ex- Revenue Inspector, Pandua Circle.
The vigilance is conduction the raids for criminal misconduct, misappropriation, forgery and criminal conspiracy in illegally settling valuable Government land under the Odisha Government Land Settlement Act in favour of in-eligible beneficiaries under the Vasundhara scheme.