CBI grills Pravat Tripathy yet again

Tripathy is in the eye of a storm for his alleged links with Ponzi firm Artha Tatwa Group

The BJD MLA from Banki and the party's former chief whip Pravat Tripathy who is in the eye of a storm for his alleged links with Ponzi firm Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, faced interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) yet again.

The central agency grilled Tripathy for about 90 minutes. But the ruling party MLA clarified the interrogation had nothing to do with his telephonic conversation with the AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy.

"Today, for the third time, after my anticipatory bail was cancelled by the Orissa High Court, the CBI interrogated me. The interrogation related to how AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy was nominated for an award by the selection committee of the State Cooperative Union", Tripathy said.

It may be noted that during his term as the president of the State Cooperative Union, Tripathy had conferred the 'Best Youth Cooperator' award on Sethy.

Tripathy's appearance before the CBI was the first since the Orissa High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on October 20. The court had earlier given him interim relief on September 30 for about 20 days, preventing his possible arrest by the CBI.

While granting interim relief to Tripathy, the court had asked the CBI to submit the forensic lab report of the voice test that sought to match his voice in a recorded phone conversation with AT group chief Pradip Sethy with the voice recorded by the CBI during his interrogation.

Complying with the court's direction, the CBI submitted the transcript as well the forensic lab report of the voice test which confirmed that the voice in the audio clip matched with Tripathy's voice recorded by the agency during interrogation.

Based on the forensic lab's voice test report the High Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Tripathy.

In a related development in the chit fund scam, the CBI has unearthed another scam tainted player Seashore Group's link to gold buying.

The Group purchased 150-200 kg of gold from trading firm MMTC during 2011-12.

"I have furnished all the relevant records about the gold trade to CBI. MMTC is a central PSU and there is no question of any illegality in the transaction", said MMTC's general manager Gajendra Patra.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch, which was investigating into Seashore Group, had recovered at least 1.38 kg of gold in ingot form from the company's bank locker last year. It had also seized silver coins weighing over 100 kg.