CBI raids in chit fund scam continue

The CBI is continuing with its raids of politicians in connection with the multi-crore chit fund scam in Odisha, with the latest being on houses of Jangneswar Babu, the Secretary-General of the Odisha Jana Morcha.

The Odisha Jana Morcha is a regional political outfit that was floated last year by rebel Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and parliamentarian Pyari Mohan Mohaptra.

The sleuths of the premier investigating agency raided Babu’s residence at Bolangir, besides searching his ancestral home in his village in the same district. They, however, are understood to have found no incriminating evidence.

The senior politician was present in his Bolangir house when the raid was conducted. Babu, who is also a former general secretary of the BJD, confirmed and cited the possible reasons of the CBI raids. He said that a cooperative sugar mill he headed had obtained a loan from the Artha Tatwa (AT) group, an Odisha-based tainted chit fund company that is currently under investigation.

“Our sugar mill had obtained a loan from the AT group and we had paid back the loan through post-dated cheques,” he said. He had always welcomed a CBI probe into the chit fund scam in Odisha. Babu insisted that the CBI sleuths did not find any objectionable documents or paper from his houses. “They have put this in writing,” he said.

The CBI sleuths also conducted a raid on Subash Chandra Padhi, a contractor-cum-BJD worker based in Banki in coastal Cuttack district for his alleged involvement with the AT group. Padhi is known to be a close associate of Prabhat Tripathy, the BJD legislator from Banki who was raided by the CBI a few days ago.