CBI DIG holds talks with Odisha officers on chit fund scam

Last month, Supreme Court had handed over investigation of the scam to the CBI

Shankhabrata Bagchi, DIG with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), today held talks with top officers of the Odisha government in connection with the probe into the multi-million crore chit fund scam.

Bagchi called on special secretary (home) Lalit Das and crime branch additional director general of police B K Sharma. The talks centred on pending cases pertaining to the scam in different courts and the need to initiate probe at the earliest, sources said.

“The CBI DIG came here for logistics requirement and office accommodation to facilitate probe. Earlier, they had requested the general administration department to allot these facilities swiftly so that they can start investigation”, said Das.Last month, a bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice T S Thakur had handed over investigation of the scam to the CBI, citing that aspects of inter-state ramifications and the larger conspiracy angle required an in- depth probe by the premier investigative agency.

The CBI will investigate cases against 44 scam tainted firms in Odisha that include West Bengal based Saradha Group and state based Seashore and Artha Tatwa Group among others. In Odisha, fraudulent companies had duped investors' money worth Rs  4600 crore, affecting around one million families.