Furthering its probe into the alleged Sarua land scam in Khordha district, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch on Monday arrested another person associated with the Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd (OITL), owned by BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda and his wife Jagi Mangat Panda.
After questioning for hours, the EOW arrested Siba Prasad Shrichandan, who is the power of attorney holder for the OITL.
Notably, Baijayant Panda (35,90,000 shares), Jagi Mangat Panda (1,25,418 shares) and Panda Investments (12,000 shares) owned by Baijayant Panda have shares in the OITL. On Sunday, the EOW had arrested Manoranjan Sarangi, one of the Directors of OITL and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of OTV Network Ltd, for his alleged involvement in the Sarua land scam.
Meanwhile, contractual employees of OTV Network have been staging protest in front of the main gate of the company’s Sarua office since Sunday.
They began the stir after the authorities of the company’s Sarua office told them that they have been removed from their jobs.
An agitator said, “We gave away our land to OTV for setting up of an office at Sarua after its authorities promised us to provide lifelong employment. Now, they are telling us that we no longer have jobs.”