Arrested former Congress MLA of Odisha, Ramesh Jena, was found to have forcefully occupied endowment department land of a temple near Berhampur.
According to Berhampur Superintendent of Police Ashis Singh, Ramesh and his associates may have also forcefully grabbed other endowment and government land in and around Berhampur.
It may be noted that with the arrest of Ramesh and his associates, several persons whose land they had forcefully occupied or grabbed have now come out to file complaints with the police.
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Recently, the managing trustee of Raghunath Mahaprabhu Trust Board of a temple in Berhampur complained before the police that a plot of land belonging to the temple had been forcefully taken over by Ramesh and his associates. “A case has been lodged against Ramesh, his father Arakhita Jena, Congress corporator R. Murali Mohan, builders Kiran Panda, Buna Sahu and others in relation to this temple land grabbing,” said the SP.
All these five are under arrest.
The five-day police remand of Ramesh for interrogation in land-grabbing in Berhampur Sadar police station area ended on Wednesday. “The police will request court for extended remand as new cases are being reported,” said the SP.
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Meanwhile, proof of large scale financial crimes and black money transactions by Ramesh and his associates have started to come out. According to income tax returns Ramesh’s annual income was Rs.10 lakh and that of Murali Mohan only Rs.3 lakh. But according to the investigating police officials, both were investing crores of rupees in real estate as is evident from the documents related to real estate seized from their possession.
After his recent arrest, 17 new cases, including that of sexual exploitation of a widow, have been lodged against Ramesh. Twenty-six persons have been arrested for their links with his nefarious activities.
The police are now trying to stop flow of illegal money to Ramesh and his gang from extortion, liquor vendors, land grabbing, sand mafia etc. The police are also trying to find out the think tank behind these illegal investments, said the SP.