Bhubaneswar, April 29: A local builder was arrested today for allegedly duping employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Korput of Rs 2.84 crore.

The economic offence wing (EOW) of the state crime branch arrested the managing director of Gajanan Property Dealer and Construction Pvt Ltd, Niranjan Parida, after getting a receiving a complaint from the president of HAL Housing Committee, an association of HAL employees.

Police said the accused had taken Rs 11.27 crore from the committee to provide around 48.5 acres of land near Chandaka on the city outskirts.

But later, he registered 42.15 acres in the name of the housing committee and the remaining 6.35 acres in his own name.

“The accused had also taken Rs 55 lakh as advance for development of the site and another Rs 42 lakh for registration and conversion charges. But Parida has not done any development on the site,” said deputy inspector general, EOW, Rajesh Kumar.

The accused had entered into an agreement with the housing committee thrice between 2009 and 2010 for providing the land at various mouzas of Bhubaneswar but failed to provide the land in first two agreements. The accused had also taken an advance of Rs 50 lakh.

“While in the first agreement, Parida had fixed the land price at Rs 19.35 lakh per acre, in the second agreement he had raised the price to Rs 20.5 lakh per acre. Finally, he provided the land near Chandaka at Rs 22.3 lakh per acre,” said Kumar.

Parida used to operate from his office at Damana Square.

The investigating agency suspects that Parida might have not provided the rest 6.35 acres of land to demand more money.

Robbers held

Four persons were arrested last night when they were preparing to rob a jewellery shop at Chandrasekharpur in Bhubaneswar. Police seized two pistols and 10 rounds of live ammunition from them. They also found 13 gold chains weighing around 150 grams on the accused.

The accused have been identified as Subrat Rao, 30, Bittu Kumar Thakur, 43, Rajesh Naik, 21, and Santosh Sethi, 22. While the first three accused are from Bhubaneswar, Sethi is a resident of Nayagarh.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided an under-construction building and nabbed the accused. Police said that the gang was involved in a number of snatching and vehicle theft cases across Khurda district.

The police have also seized five motorcycles from the gang members.

“During interrogation, the accused confessed to have committed a number of crimes, especially snatching, in the city. Investigation is on to ascertain their involvement in other crimes,” said police commissioner R.K. Sharma.

The seizure of two pistols from the gang members has worried the police because it is now clear that even petty criminals have easy access to firearms.