Former OAS officer Phalguni Singh arrested in Bhubaneswar.Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 26: Sleuths of the economic offence wing, crime branch, arrested a former Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer and his brother last night for fraudulently selling government land 34 years ago.

The two-acre plot, for which they had forged documents, is now worth nearly Rs 20 crore and is located near a Big Bazaar outlet at Patia.

The accused brothers were identified as Phalguni Singh, 65, who retired as an additional secretary of the general administration department seven years ago, and his brother Sabyasachi Sinha, 55, an LIC agent. Crime branch sleuths picked up the duo from their homes in Bhubaneswar last night.

Additional director-general of police B.K. Sharma said one Sarbeswar Sinha had applied to the state government in 1978 to be provided with two acres in Patia for farming, saying he was landless. But the local tehsildar rejected his application in February 1980. Crime branch sleuths did not say anything further about Sarbeswar.

But in 1979, before Sarbeswar’s application was rejected, the local tehsildar prepared a record of rights for the plot in the name of Sabyasachi Sinha. Records show that in 1992, Sabyasachi said he was from Rambag in Jajpur town and a resident of Budheswary Colony in Bhubaneswar. He also executed a power of attorney in the name of one Bijay Kumar Pattnaik of Cuttack. Phalguni then sold the land to the Odisha Construction and Techno Co-operative Society, which, in turn, sold it to several people.

“That government land had been sold fraudulently came to the notice of the state government in 2003. Following this, several discussions and meetings were held. After a discussion with the chief secretary, the tehsildar was told to inquire into the matter. The tehsildar lodged a complaint with the economic offence wing on January 8 this year and we registered a case,” said Sharma.

Crime Branch officials found that Phalguni had been the tehsildar of Bhubaneswar between 1978 and 1980. They also found that he had forged documents using his brother Sabyasachi Sinha’s name before selling the plot. The addresses provided in the official documents of Sabyasachi were false.

“We made inquiries and spoke to most of the people involved in the transaction and subsequently arrested the two brothers. They have been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. We produced them before court today,” said the additional director-general.

He said his officials would go to the spot where several houses have been built. Its officials would also speak with more people, including the co-operative society’s owner and staff members and employees of the then tehsil office to find out whether others were involved in the cheating incident.

However, Phalguni did not comment on the issue.