Berhampur, March 14: Golonthara police on Friday arrested two land brokers in connection with an alleged organised land fraud case in which a local resident was duped of around ₹75 lakh.

The arrested accused have been identified as Somendra Kumar Sahu (63) of Badabazar and Shibashankar Choudhury (46) of Raijhola.

According to police, the two brokers had allegedly persuaded Himanshu Sekhar Patro in 2022 to purchase a piece of agricultural land claiming it had a clear ownership title. Following their assurance, Patro paid around ₹75 lakh for the land and registered sale deeds were executed in 2022 and 2023.

However, during boundary verification in December 2023, it came to light that the same land had already been sold to another party between 1970 and 1972.

Police said the accused had deliberately concealed the earlier transactions to facilitate the fraudulent sale. They allegedly used forged documents and presented them as genuine to carry out the fraud.

Following a complaint, Golonthara police registered a case, arrested the two accused and produced them before a court. Police said further investigation is underway to ascertain the involvement of other accomplices and to identify if there are more victims in the case.