The Pioneer had published a report “Rs 100-cr Lingaraj land grabbed near city airport” on July 20. Acting on it, Revenue Secretary Bishnupada Sethi has recommended a Crime Branch probe into alleged wrong recording of Lingaraj property in name of a private individual.

Sethi in a letter to the Khordha Collector stated, “The land in question belongs to Lord Lingaraj and the property being inalienable. Shree Lingaraj Mahaprabhu is a public deity and as per provisions all deity lands are to be recorded in name of public deity, Marfat trust Board."Tenancy will not be created against the Trust Property under the provisions of OLR Act and therefore the recording of Lord Linagaraj's land in favour of private persons is clearly a violation of statutory principles and malafide on the part of settlement officials,” he pointed out.Sethi has asked the Endowment Commissioner to further examine the records of Lord Lingaraj and take all necessary steps to safeguard the interest of the deity.

He also asked Khordha Collector, who is also the Chairman of Shree Lingaraj Temple Trust to refer the matter to the Crime Branch for investigation into the wrong recording of land. The Collector has also been asked to make a detailed verification of Lord Lingaraj's property and furnish a status report within a month.As per reports, land belonging to Lord Lingaraj has been incorrectly recorded on the name of three persons. Further investigation by the Land Records Surveys and Consolidation Director revealed that the recording of deity's land in favour of private persons is erroneous.

The Lands Records Surveys and Consolidation stated that, “The Scheduled land as per Sabik RoR belongs to Mahaprabhu Lingaraj. The Satwa should be Debottar Bahel.