Cuttack, March 18: A petition filed in Orissa High Court has accused the CID-crime branch of not taking action against a sitting councillor of the civic body.

He is wanted in several cases of land fraud.

The petition also alleged that when victims of various land fraud cases had approached police in the past, they were told that the accused, Chittaranjan Das, had been absconding. But, the accused has contested the last civic body elections and become an Independent councillor of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

The court has sought a status report on the alleged cases pending against Das. Additional director- general of police (crime) has been asked to verify and submit the report within one week.

The advocate general’s office, in its communication to the authorities, said: “A complaint was made before the Lokpal, Odisha, alleging that one Chittaranjan Das is a habitual offender who gets himself involved in defrauding the gullible in the urban areas of the state. So many general public have been affected directly because of the criminal act of the said Chittaranjan Das so far as land scam in the state of Odisha is concerned.”

Cases were pending against Das at Saheed Nagar, Lakshmi Sagar and Khandagiri police stations.

“You are also requested to find out how many other cases are pending against the said Chittaranjan Das in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and West Bengal,” the advocate general’s office said.

The petition, filed by Ayub Khan and five others, alleged that victims of land fraud had approached the CID-crime branch, but they were told that Das had been absconding and investigation was going on in pursuance of the direction of Lokpal.

Alleging that the “police are providing protection” to the accused, the petition pointed out that Das contested and won the elections.

The petitioners have sought the court’s direction to the state government to constitute a special investigation team to probe the land fraud cases and apprehend the accused, according to the directions of the Lokpal.

On October 21, 2011, the Lokpal had directed the state home department “to constitute a special investigation team comprising five senior officers of the crime branch” to investigate the case and apprehend the accused persons within three months.

The petition, filed in the high court, alleged the authorities “are deliberately not acting on the direction of the Lokpal” and “providing protection to him (the accused) because of his strong nexus with some influential MLAs of the ruling party”.