Bhubaneswar, Dec. 26: A team of Jharkhand police today searched residence of the owner of a local television channel at Nayapalli in connection with a land fraud in Jharkhand.

The search was conducted on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the court of chief judicial magistrate, Dhanbad.

An official of Chirkunda police station in Jharkhand said Prabhat Ranjan Mallick and his wife had taken an advance of Rs 2.82 crore from the complainant, Quazi Shakeel Ekta, a Jharkhand-based industrialist, for a land deal on February 9, 2011. An agreement between both the parties was also signed for 9.2 acres in Gurgaon for Rs 9.2 crore. Ekta had given a cash of Rs 49 lakh and another Rs 2 crore through cheques.

“Though the complaint had given the advance for land registration, Mallick did not respond. Both the parties had agreed to register the land on December 31, 2011. But Ekta later found that Mallick had registered the same land in favour of Rajesh Kumar Keshari, a resident of Vasantkunj in New Delhi, for Rs 5 crore. Later, Ekta lodged a complaint at Chirkunda police station on July 8,” said sub-inspector of Chirkunda police station Rameshwar Singh.

A case under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Chirkunda police station. Later, the court of chief judicial magistrate, Dhanbad, issued an arrest warrant on October 19.

However, Jharkhand police said they had to face opposition from Mallick’s family members when they reached his residence at Nayapalli. “Instead of co-operating with us, the family members even did not allow us to enter his house,” said Singh. On the other hand, local police said they would provide all possible help to Jharkhand police.