Intensifying its crackdown on the multi-crore chit fund scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raided 18 locations including the Bhubaneswar and Delhi residences of Rajya Sabha member, Pyarimohan Mohapatra.
CBI has put Mohapatra under scanner in connection with the money trail of Seashore chit fund company.
CBI officials said, searches were conducted at 16 places in the state and one place each in Mumbai and Delhi. "Apart from Mohapatra's residences at Bhubaneswar and New Delhi, the other important locations raided include houses of two retired officers IAS officers, offices of industrialists, brokers through whom cash dealings were made and residences of other associates of Seashore CMD, Prashant Kumar Dash," CBI official said.
It is alleged that under the patronage of Mohapatra, Dash's multi-sector business thrived in the state.
"The links for which the CBI raided my house was not mentioned in the search warrant. I am welcoming the CBI raid. They have taken with them some documents relating to my property, party account and personal account," said Mohapatra, who is also chief of Odisha Janmorcha (OJM), a local political outfit.
Mohapatra was a power centre in the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) before being ousted from the party over his alleged failed bid to topple Naveen Patnaik as the chief minister of the state in May, 2012.
Today, CBI also raided the residence of former commissioner of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), Rabi Nanda in Cuttack and late Balakrushna Rath's house in Bolangir district. Rath was former managing director of state-run Agriculture Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Apicol), which had tied up with Seashore group for setting up a maize processing unit in Nabrangpur district. The former BJD leader was also quizzed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting separate probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam in the state.
The raid at Mohapatra's house follows the arrest of senior leaders of the ruling party including a sitting MP and MLA and a former MLA of BJD. In a related development Ashirbad Behera, secretary of Odisha Cricket Association today appeared before the CBI in connection with the funding of OCA organised Odisha Premier League (OPL) by the Artha Tatwa group. AT Group and Seashore are among the 44 firms under CBI scanner for duping thousands of gullible investors in the state through fraudulent money circulation schemes.
