CBI raids on Odisha Olympic Association in land grabbing case

Bhubaneswar: The CBI on Friday conducted raids on Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) office and the house of OOA former secretary Ashirbad Behera in a land grabbing case.

An eight-member team of CBI conducted the OOA office at Barabati Stadium and on residence of Behera in Cuttack.

The team conducted the raids on instruction of the Supreme Court to probe into the illegal land grabbing in the stadium premises.

Notably, OOA got 22 acres of government land on lease for the construction of Barabati Stadium in 1949 but had encroached upon two acres adjacent to the vacant government land in mid 70s.

This encroached land was further sub-leased by them where various business establishments developed making them earn revenue. The company had built Barabati Palace and 23 shops on the land, said sources.