Bhubaneswar, June 23: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday conducted raids at the office and residential premises of the former secretary of Orissa Olympic Association (OOA) Ashirbad Behera at Cuttack in connection with the land-grab case and registered a case against him and several others.
The case was registered under section 120 (B) and 420 IPC against Behera, Incon Associates and unknown officials of OOA. The CBI sleuths indicated that they had recovered many incriminating documents related to the case during the raids.
According to CBI officials, the accused allegedly cheated the state government by making unauthorised constructions; built 23 shops and a mandap on the government land and generated revenue.
The Supreme Court April 3 ordered a CBI probe into these illegal constructions.
Notably, the Orissa Olympic Association had received 22-acre government land on lease for the construction of Barabati Stadium in 1949 but had encroached upon two acres land adjacent to the vacant government land during 1970s. This encroached land was further sub-leased by the association and it generated revenue from it by allowing business establishments to crop up there.
In September 2016, a judicial committee headed by the Cuttack district judge submitted its report regarding the discrepancies in the land lease. Ashirbad Behera was asked by the Supreme Court to stay away from the secretary post during the investigation in March 2016. He was in the office of general secretary since 1988 for 28 years. PNN
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