The Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa on Thursday faced further embarrassment as an FIR was registered against four ministers, for availing lands and houses from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) by “fraudulent” means.
The FIR also mentions the name of chief minister Naveen Patnaik as one of the “culprits” who facilitated the release of houses to his “tainted” ministers.
Petitioner Bhawani Parija filed a case with the capital police alleging that the former urban development minister Badri Narayan Patra had misused his power in releasing a house from his discretionary quota to the state rural development minister Bikram Keshari Arukh. Besides, he also named finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, panchayati raj minister Maheswar Mohanty and revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro as other beneficiaries of discretionary quotas.
“Despite the fact that rural development minister Bikram Keshari Arukh’s wife had obtained a house from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in 2008, the present higher education minister Badri Narayan Patra, who was then heading the urban development department, released him another house. It is a clear case of criminal conspiracy and needs to be investigated into,” Mr Parija said.