Retired OAS officer and former Khordha land Acquisition Officer (lAO) Ramachandra Mohanty was arrested on Friday for his alleged involvement in a Rs 1-crore land fraud case.
The controversial land was later sold off to a builder.
Sources said Mohanty, who was on the run for last few months, was nabbed from his house in the Khandagiri area here by Vigilance sleuths.
Acting on a tipoff, the investigating agency officials raided his house in the afternoon and arrested him. later, Mohanty was produced in a local Vigilance court, which sent him to jail. The sources added that Mohanty was involved in the Nandankanan bird sanctuary land scam, which is being investigated by the Vigilance.
The Nandankanan authorities had earlier reported the matter to the local police and later requested the State Vigilance, which is probing the scam now. According to the sources, nearly 50 acres of land was acquired near the Nandankanan Zoo for setting up of a bird sanctuary a few years ago. Mohanty, who was serving as the Khordha land Acquisition Officer then, along with a few others managed to siphon off the funds sanctioned for compensation purpose to the affected persons and land losers.
later, the Nandankanan authorities lodged a complaint with the Vigilance seeking a probe into the entire land acquisition and compensation issue, the sources added.