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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raided the residences of three politicians, including two from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), as part of its probe into the chit fund scam.
The politicians are Ramachandra Hansda, BJD MP from Mayurbhanj, former BJD MLA from Keonjhar Subarna Nayak, and Hitesh Bagarti, former BJP MLA from Khariar.
CBI conducted simultaneous raids at 15 places including Hansda’s houses in Bhubaneswar and Rairangpur, Naik’s residence in Govindpur in Keonjhar district and Hitesh Bagarti’s house at Khariar. Naik and Hansda denied any knowledge about the raid.
These three politicians are said to be the founder members and directors of the Nabadiganta Capital Services Limited (NCSL), a chit fund company that duped the gullible investors promising hefty returns on their deposits.
The probe agency also raided the city office of the NCSL. Sources said, CBI has interrogated NCSL managing director, Pradeep Kumar Pattnaik and seized some important documents.
“I am the former director of the company. As soon as it came to my notice that the company has duped the people, I had written to Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Company Law Board and Registrar of Companies to take action against the company “, said Bagarti. NSCL officials could not be reached for comments.
CBI sources said, agency has recovered Rs 28 lakh cash from the residence of Hansdah. The agency is reported to have recovered Rs 22 lakh fixed deposits and Rs four lakh cash from the residence of Sanyasi Pradhan, an employee NCSL and sarpanch of Nayagarh Sikharpur Panchayat.
The Supreme Court in its order in May had ordered CBI to investigate cases against 44 chit fund firms in Odisha accused of involvement in the scam. The list included West Bengal based Saradha Group and state based Seashore and Artha Tatwa Group among others.
In Odisha, fraudulent companies had duped investors of Rs 4,600 crore, affecting around one million families.
CBI has filed 46 first information reports (FIRs) in the Rs 10,000-crore Saradha chit fund case. Of these, 43 FIRs have been filed in Odisha and three in West Bengal.
