Tripura: Retired govt official held for land scam with Noida-based institution

A retired Tripura government senior official was arrested for alleged land scam with a Noida-based educational institution, officials said on Wednesday.

A senior police official said that Kaizar Debbarma (61), former additional director of Tripura’s Industries and Commerce Department was arrested from his home at Krishnanagar in Agartala.

The police produced him in a local court on Wednesday seeking seven days of police custody but the court granted three days of police remand.

Kaizar and five other accused had allegedly cheated Noida-based (Uttar Pradesh) ‘World Education Mission (WEM)’, a private educational institution, for illegally handing over a piece of land measuring 48.52 acres in West Tripura’s Bodhjungnagar industrial estate by submitting fake documents.

After the police found that on the basis of the fake documents the land was handed over then acting on an FIR arrested five accused in 2023 in view of the criminal breach of trust case.

Sensing that the Noida-based institution was cheated, WEM Director Himangshu Panchal filed an FIR in July 2023.

Panchal earlier informed Tripura government officials and the police that he had made a payment of Rs 1.25 crore to the accused against the land in Bodjungnar.

During the probe, police found that Rs 1.25 crore was credited to the accounts of the five accused by the director of WEM. However, no money trail was found in Kaizar's accounts, the official said, adding that the investigating officer suspects that Kaizar played an active role from behind in the illegal land transfer.

Kaizar met the WEM Director and introduced the five accused to the educational institution. The retired additional director, who retired a year ago, was an influential officer in the Industries and Commerce department, which has a big industrial estate in Bodhjungnagar, 12 km north of Agartala.