As many as 542 serving and former defence personnel, who were allegedly duped of over Rs 30 crore by a former Army officer and some other persons, went in a procession from Master Canteen Square to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) office here on Friday.
The Defence personnel and their family members held the protest against former Lieutenant Colonel Rakesh Rana Brokson Infrastructure managing director Purunachandra Panda and SWO India’s PEO Pradip Kumar Barik floated a schemeand lured both serving and ex-servicemen who wanted to own a piece of land at Giringaput under the Chandaka Mouza near the State capital.
They are accused of defrauding of Rs 35 from at least 542 persons. While the aforesaid persons received deposits from the applicants and promised to hand over land documents after the process of registration and mutation, nothing happened.
The applicants were never refunded their money either. So, the duped victims formed the Defence Intercity Vatika Association, Odisha and approached the Odisha Crime Branch’s EOW in 2015 and even wrote to letters to the three service chiefs of the armed forces.
Later, the three accused including Rana were arrested. Later, Brockson MD Purna Chandra Panda admitted his guilt in the Orissa High Court and promised that he would hand over the land the victims within six months. Following which he was released on conditional bail. But unfortunately till now he has not fulfilled his promise. In gross contempt of the High Court he has constructed properties under the name of Lorenze properties in the land and selling them, alleged association member Santosh Kumar Sahu. Meanwhile, Rana has got bail from the Supreme Court under the pretext of blood cancer in 2020.
The land mafia should be immediately arrested by the EOW and the victims should return their money with interest or the promised land should be handed over to them, demanded Sahu.