Berhampur, March 16: Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra today accused the police administration of launching a witch-hunt and deliberately arresting their leaders.

Launching an attack on the police in the Assembly while taking part in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the governor’s address, Mishra said: “The government has learned the art of harassing political opponents.”

Making it clear that criminals needed to be pinned down, he said: “The police should be fair in its investigation and not always target the Opposition. The present police administration is headed by such a person, who can do anything to satisfy the political administration,” he said.

The Congress was upset as the police arrested a former Congress MLA Remesh Jena, who had emerged as one of the popular leaders in the undivided Ganjam district, from where chief minister Naveen Patnaik hails.

In a related development, the police today arrested another Congress councillor, R. Murali Mohan (ward No. 5) of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation, and a builder, Buna Sahu, for their alleged link with Jena in land-grabbing cases. A new case was also slapped against the former MLA today.

Berhampur police superintendent Sarthak Sarangi said a case was registered against five persons, including Mohan, Jena, the MLA’s father Arakhit Jena, Sahu (owner of the Srikshetra Vihar real estate) and Babula Sahani (owner of the Nandighosh real estate). “We arrested Mohan and Sahu today. Earlier, Jena and his father had been arrested in other cases. Sahani is absconding,” Sarangi said.

Cases have been registered under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 387 (extortion of money) of the Indian Penal Code against the five people, the police said.

Sarangi further said the five compelled the owner of a Gandhi Nagar plot — valued at Rs 5 crore — to sell it at Rs 2 crore. Moreover, the money was not paid to the owner. “The plot was registered in the name of Mohan, who did not pay a single pie to the complainant. Again the land was registered in the name of Sahu. The incident came to light after Jena was arrested and the plot owner lodged a police complaint,” he said.

Earlier, Mohan’s mother R. Savitri had alleged that the police had detained her son since March 13 for interrogation and requested the sub-divisional judicial magistrate to intervene. The magistrate asked the police superintendent to produce Mohan in court by today. The police also interrogated Congress leader Syed Mubarak, who had played a mediator for Jena on the purchase of a car.