The sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing into multi-crore chit fund scam, continued search operations in the state for third consecutive day by raiding houses of two political leaders today.
The probe agency officials searched the houses of Jagneswar Babu, general secretary of Odisha Jana Morcha, an outfit formed by disgruntled leaders of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), in Bolangir and the house of BJD leader, Subash Chandra Padhi at Banki in connection with their link to chit fund scam.
Both the leaders, however, denied their involvement in the scam, particularly linked to the Artha Tatwa (AT) group of companies.
Babu, who was president of the now-defunct Bijayananda Sugar Mill situated at Bolangir, said, “The sugar mill at one point of time had availed a loan of Rs 2 crore and the loan was repaid later (to AT group) through post-dated cheques. The CBI got nothing from my house regarding my involvement with the AT group.” The raids were conducted at his Bolangir house and at his ancestral house in Puttula village.
A separate case has been filed against him by the state administration for his involvement in sanction of Rs 37 crore loan to the sugar mill during his tenure as chairman of Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB).
The CBI has been raiding houses of leaders of different political parties in connection with the chit fund scam after arrested AT group chief, Pradip Sethy revealed that several political leaders, bureaucrats and journalists had taken kickbacks from his company. In a separate raid, the central agency officials today swooped down on the house of Subash Chandra Padhi, a BJD leader and contractor from Banki, portrayed as a close confidant of Banki MLA, Pravat Tripathy, whose house was searched on Saturday. “I have no financial link with the AT group and the CBI can never get anything from the search. My name has been linked without any basis because of political reasons,” said Padhi about the raid on his house.
The Artha Tatwa (AT) group is among 44 firms under CBI scanner for duping thousands of investors in the state through fraudulent money circulation schemes. The state crime branch has confiscated the property of the group, estimated at Rs 400 crore.
