New head for chit fund probe panel in Odisha

Odisha government on Wednesday appointed justice Madan Mohan Das as the new head of the one-man judicial commission to probe the multi-crore chit fund scam. 

Justice Das, a retired judge of the Odisha High Court would replace the late justice R K Patra who died on January 28 due to illness. 

A former chief justice of the Sikkim High Court, Justice Patra has been heading the panel since its inception in 2013. His death brought questions over the progress of the investigation in the mega scan.  

Sources said details of Justice Das’ appointment are yet to emerge, but the judge would likely be given the task of completing the ongoing process to scrutinise affidavits filed by thousands of common people who claimed they have made deposits in the tainted chit fund companies. 

During late justice Patra’s tenure, the commission had received more than ten lakh affidavits of which only half had been scrutinized. 

The process is important as it would identify the real investors who would be compensated from the Rupees 300 crore corpus fund created by the state government for the benefit of the duped investors. 

Meanwhile, the CBI, which is separately probing into chit fund scams in Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal, on Monday searched an office of the Kolkata-based tainted chit fund company Saradha group in the temple town of Puri.