The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday expanded its probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam raiding 58 locations including houses of a key Biju Janata Dal (BJD) politician.
The CBI teams swooped down on the residence of Prabhat Tripathy, senior BJD leader and MLA, at Banki and Cuttack. The teams have reportedly seized several incriminating documents.
The raid on Mr. Tripathy’s residence indicated involvement of a number of politicians in the chit fund scam.
Rs 28 lakh seizedEarlier, the CBI had raided the house of BJD Lok Sabha member, Ramachandra Hansda, and seized Rs. 28 lakh of cash. Raids were also conducted at the house of Subarna Naik, a former BJD MLA and Hitesh Bagarti, a former BJP MLA.
Mr. Tripathy told reporters that he was not present in his house when CBI teams conducted the raid.
“I have not been a partner in any chit fund company. And I had no involvement in any chit fund dealings. I don’t think the CBI team has seized any incriminating document from my house,” he said.
The CBI, in a statement, said searches were conducted at Berhampur, Balasore and 54 places in Bhubaneswar and adjacent areas at the office and residential premises of Odisha-based group of companies, their directors, other office bearers and individuals who had close links with the group.
Office of Ashirbad Behera, Secretary of the Orissa Cricket Association, was also under the radar of the premiere investigation agency.
The CBI teams also targeted Artha Tatwa Group, which allegedly mopped up around Rs. 500 crore from small time investors. The Group had owned a team in Odisha Premiere League. OCA Secretary’s office was raided to dig out information in connection with AT group’s participation in OPL.
CBI sleuths knocked doors of relatives of AT Group’s promoter, Pradip Sethy and houses of top officials of AT Group were also searched.
The CBI had registered 44 cases in Odisha earlier this year on the direction of the Supreme Court.
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