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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday raided 29 places in Odisha to find the money trail of the Seashore Group, in connection with an investigation into the chit fund scam in the state.
Of a total Rs 4,600 crore raised by Ponzi firms in the state, the Seashore group is estimated to have collected Rs 1,500 crore from depositors through various schemes.
Two CBI teams raided the Bhubaneswar house of Seashore chief Prasant Das and Gopal Sahu, director of STV, a news channel run by the company. CBI also raided Sahu’s house in Khurda.
During the raid, CBI sleuths seized several documents and cash. All 29 raids were initiated simultaneously at various places on Thursday morning, sources said.
Seashore had opened a dozen companies including an Odia news television channel, a corn processing unit, and a dairy firm to channelise its investment. It also bought a huge amount of bullion out of the money it collected from investors.
A crackdown by the state police’s crime branch in November last year revealed Das had stashed nearly 1.5 kg of gold and 100 kg of silver in his private locker. Das has been in judicial custody since last year on charges of forgery and money swindling.
The state police had handed over all official documents and files of Seashore to the CBI on September 5. The documents included bank accounts, cheque books, land documents, bank drafts and receipts of gold biscuits purchased from the banks and jewellery shops.
It had also submitted a copy of the statement of Das during his interrogation.
The CBI team questioned Das’ family members to find out the links of politicians and other influential persons in the scam.
Apart from the CBI, the enforcement directorate has also appealed before the Khurda sessions court to take Das into remand to find the money trail of the firm.
The links of political leaders and officials of the state government has already been established during the searches and raids conducted on Artha Tatwa Group, another chit fund firm.
In a separate development, the CBI on Thursday continued to question Mumbai-based model Preeti Bhatia for her involvement in financing a TV serial funded by the Artha Tatwa Group.
Meanwhile, the Odisha High Court on Thursday asked the counsel for former advocate-general Ashok Mohanty, who was arrested by the CBI for his alleged links with Artha Tatwa chief Pradip Sethi, to move the Khurda district sessions court for bail. The high court also directed the CBI to submit the case diary on Friday. The special CBI court had earlier rejected the bail plea of Mohanty.
