Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: From the lap of luxury to the cold cement floor of the Jharpada jail in Bhubaneswar ? life has come full circle for the five high-profile contractors arrested on tender fixing charges on Thursday.
The five ?super class? contractors ? Rohit Das, Padmacharan Patra, Ashok Jalan, Pramod Rath and Surendranath Sahoo ? have been lodged in ward 16 of the Bhubaneswar Special Jail. They were arrested on the basis of information provided by the alleged kingpin of the racket, Anil Chhotray, who is also in jail.
While Das owns a three-star hotel, Rath is the owner of a private engineering college. Patra has a dealership of Honda Motors ? Highway Honda.
They were arrested on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly and under the Arms Act.
The five businessmen, along with Chhotray, were allegedly involved in the murder of two contractors on April 19 in Bhubaneswar.
The Group of Five, not to be mistaken with the Independent ministers in Jharkhand?s Arjun Munda government, is sharing space with 17 undertrials allegedly involved in crimes ranging from murder and dacoity to rape.
The bail applications of the five contractors will be heard tomorrow.
Like the other inmates, the businessmen have to sleep on the floor, compete in the rush for the only toilet and secure a place to sit and sleep. Sources in the jail said the businessmen were consciously trying to hide themselves from the other inmates and stayed inside their cell most of the time.
They seem to be most scared of tender mafia Hyder and Chhotray, who are also housed in the same jail. Although several visitors call on them during the day, these contractors prefer not to go to the jail gate unless the visitor is a close family member. Their only ?relief? is that food comes from outside.
The jail authorities are keeping a close eye on the visitors, as they feel there is a high possibility of items like mobile phones, drugs and even liquor getting smuggled into the jail for the five high-profile inmates. A couple of the contractors are also believed to be desperately trying to influence the jail officials to extend special favours.
With chief minister Naveen Patnaik giving the go-ahead to arrest ?anybody and everybody? having links with the tender mafia, several heads are expected to roll, especially among engineers. At least half a dozen senior engineers from the irrigation and public works departments are likely to be arrested in the next few days, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sleuths said.
The CID sources said investigation has revealed potentially explosive information on a number of projects undertaken in the districts of Orissa. The agency is also taking a close look at the tenders issued by the water resources department and under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana over the past two years.
?Clinching? evidence has been found against four engineers of Jagatsinghpur district and two from Khurda, claimed the sources, adding that they would be arrested soon.
The involvement of Biju Janata Dal MLA from Khurda Jyotirindranath Mitra and former food and civil supplies minister Bed Prakash Agrawal is also being probed and certain evidence has come up, the CID sleuths said. They however, did not name the engineers.
The investigating agency held a review meeting in Cuttack on Saturday evening to decide the course of action.
