Odisha govt gives 6-mth extension to Patra Commission

The Odisha government today gave six months extension to Justice R K Patra Commission of Enquiry probing the multi-crore chitfund scam.
The Commission secretariat here said that the tenure had been extended up to May next year. It was the third extension of the panel by the state government.
Justice Patra, the former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, is probing to identify influential persons protecting and promoting chit fund activities in the state and to recommend the government as to how investors' would get back their money.
The Commission was also mandated to suggest measures so that such illegal activities do not flourish in the state again.

Commission sources said a database of more than 5,30,000 investors out of some ten lakh affidavits received, has already been prepared to identify the genuine investors in various chit fund companies.
The Commission was set up in July last year following a hue and cry as the companies vanished overnight after duping the investors.
Although the crime branch of the state police was entrusted to investigate the scam, its shoddy investigation led the Supreme Court to entrust the same on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A special investigation team (SIT) of the CBI is currently probing the money trail in the scam.