Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman demands CBI probe into alleged multi-crore land scam

Senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman on Friday demanded a CBI probe into the allegation of Rs 10,000 crore land scam in 2023 where many government-owned land pockets were allotted to individuals by land mafias with help of section government employees.

He said the investigation into the scam, which allegedly involves government officials, should be supervised by the Chief Justice of High Court of Tripura to ensure transparency.

On Friday during budget session of Tripura Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha replying the allegations made by Roy Barman said that a formal complaint should be submitted in this regard and promised to take up the matter legally after an investigation.

Roy Barman quoting a confidential letter by the then Sepahijala District Magistrate Dr Vishal Kumar to the additional secretary of the General Administration (Personnel and Training) department in 2023, he informed the House that there were about several cases where land was transferred without proper documentation or landowners’ consent. The letter had mentioned certain instances of conversion of government ‘Khas’ land into ‘Jote’ land and selling without the authorities’ approval.

He claimed that the transactions of illegal land are going on throughout all the eight districts of the state.

He further accused that the state government of not taking action against the accused government officials and instead transferring the district magistrate 22 days after he raise the issue.

The Congress leader alleged that the land scam was taking place under the patronage of the government, groups of land mafia and expressed doubt over the transfer of the then district magistrate.