Berhampur: Sadar police has registered a fresh land grab case against ex-Congress legislator Ramesh Jena. The case relates to alleged grabbing of a land belonging to Raghunath temple trust in the city by him.
Informing this to the media, Berhampur SP Ashish Singh said, “A fresh land grab case has been registered against Jena in Sadar PS. Kiran Panda, Murli, Arikshit Jena, Ramesh Jena, Guna Sahu and some others have been accused of grabbing about four acres of land belonging to Raghunath temple trust.”
Singh said that trust officials have confirmed the land grab case.
“One Kishore, a trustee of the endowment board, has confirmed this to police through a report. According to the report, Jena and others have occupied a 30/80 feet land and constructed a road on that. Besides, there are allegations that this group has acquired land belonging to the temple trust in other places of the city. It seems that they have forcefully occupied the area.”
“We have requested government and endowment officials in Nimkhandi, Borigaon and Purushottampur mouza to verify and check the status of their land. We will seek remand of Jena in this case,” Singh stated.
Officials said this is the first case that Jena has been accused of occupying a land of temple trust.
Four days back, city police had registered a rape case against Jena. Several cases in connection with tender fixing, land grabbing, gutkha trade and illegal firearms have been registered against Jena.