Insight Bureau: Thanks to the outrage over the controversy surrounding Lord Lingaraj’s land grab in Bhubaneswar, the Khordha District Administration stepped in to halt the construction.
The move came as a big jolt to Mining Contractor B Prabhakaran, whose wife Kiruthika Prabhakaran had purchased this controversial land. Prabhakaran is also the Managing Director of Thriveni Earthmovers.
The Debottar land, located near the Biju Patnaik International Airport, was sold to Kiruthika Prabhakaran and construction activity was being carried out when some social activists and locals opposed it. After some media houses highlighted the issue, the district administration rushed in and put a red flag on the land.
Kiruthika Prabhakaran had bought the 228-decimal land patch from Hrushikesh Das for Rs 6.45 crore in November 2021. It’s not yet clear how the land being a property of Lord Lingaraj was sold to Kiruthika when it was already under the scanner after being occupied by a family of servitor who was in charge of the temple treasury.
The matter was sub-judice since 2020 after the then Revenue Secretary Bishnupada Sethi had directed the Khurda Collector to bring back the land to the temple’s land records. A similar matter in this case has been under trial before the Board of Revenue Court.
