Saradha scam: Oppn welcomes CBI probe, BJD to cooperate

While state government had agreed to allow CBI probe in 37 ponzi companies, SC in its order named 44 such companies to be under scanner

The opposition Congress and BJP today welcomed the Supreme Court's order for a CBI probe into the multi-crore chitfund scam while the Odisha government said it will fully cooperate with the investigation.

The ruling BJD said it had no objection to the CBI investigation. "We will abide the Supreme Court order. The state government will fully cooperate with CBI in its investigation," state Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya said.

Terming the Supreme Court's order for a CBI probe into the chitfund scam as a "victory" of the people, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Jaydev Jena said the investigation will unmask the BJD government in the state.

"The BJD government's attempts to avoid a CBI probe has finally failed to yield any result," Jena said alleging that the members of the ruling party were protecting the ponzi companies.

While the state government had agreed to allow CBI probe in 37 ponzi companies, the apex court in its order named 44 such companies to be under the scanner, Jena said.

Senior BJP leader Suresh Pujari also welcomed the CBI probe, saying the state government should have handed over the probe to the CBI on its own, as suggested by them much earlier, instead of arguing that the state Crime Branch was good enough to handle the task.

"The apex court has realised the need for such a probe. We welcome the court's decision. We hope the CBI will identify the politicians and officials who provided patronage to ponzi scheme operators and prosecute them," said senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Jual Oram.

Rajya Sabha MP and BJD vice-president Kalpataru Das said the state government had done everything to nab the culprits and had formed a corpus fund to repay the duped depositors.

It has also passed new laws to protect the interest of depositors and confiscated the properties of ponzi companies, he said.

While welcoming the CBI probe, CPI state secretary Dibakar Nayak hoped that the depositors would get back their money and culprits be booked.

Odisha Jan Morcha leader Pyari Mohan Mohapatra and Samajwadi Party leader Rabi Behera also welcomed CBI probe into the chitfund scam.

At least 44 companies in Odisha would be probed by the CBI, including the Kolkata-based Saradha Group and Odisha-based Seashore and Artha Tatwa groups.