RTI Activist Arrested For Soil Theft From Govt Land In Odisha’s Jajpur

Jajpur: Right-to-Information (RTI) activist of Odisha’s Jajpur district Sarbeshwar Behera has been arrested in an illegal soil mining case.

According to sources, he is accused of illegal extraction and transportation of soil from a government land at Saroi Mauza under Dharmashala tehsil. The Tehsildar had seized a JCB and five tractors during a raid, which was carried out following a tip-off. On basis of the complaint lodged by the Tehsildar, police had then detained five drivers for questioning.

Later, the five along with Behera were arrested and forwarded to court.

“The legal action was taken following an investigation on the report submitted by the Tehsildar, on basis of which a case was lodged at Dharmashala police station one and a half months back,” ACP, Jajpur, Vinit Agrawal told the media.

Collector Chakravarti Singh Rathore said that continuous enforcement is on and a fine of Rs 200-Rs 300 crore slapped in last 2 years. “When Tehsildar visited the spot yesterday, soil mining was on. Action is being taken against those involved,” he added.