Kendrapara: A special police team Monday arrested dreaded criminal Sayed Imran Ali alias Sappo, the brother of gangster Sayed Ushman Ali alias Tito, of Dilwarpur for his involvement in tender-fixing.
In a pre-dawn raid, Sappo (40) was arrested from Kendrapara township, SP Nitinjit Singh said.
Sappo, who currently faces 13 criminal cases including those of murder, used a gang to rig the tender process by intimidating contractors so that those favoured by them bagged the contracts.
Besides Sappo, the police have so far arrested 23 other history-sheeters in a month-long drive. Six contractors, who had allegedly colluded with the gangsters to bag jobs, were arrested.
The gang allegedly rigged tender process of as many as 134 government projects, estimated to be worth around `50 crore, in irrigation division, roads and building department, saline embankment division, rural water sanitation scheme division besides public health engineering department, the police said.
The bidding process of various projects was suspended after it was found that the tenders were rigged and fresh tenders have been invited, officials said. Sappo was produced in a local court and remanded in judicial custody.
According to reports, Sappo and Tito unleashed a reign of terror and spread their tender fixing network by forming nexus with officials of the RD, irrigation and R&B departments. Even, a senior police officer of the district used to collect huge monetary gratification to protect and co-operate Sappo and Tito in tender-fixing, a report said.
