Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, July 4:

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)  today arrested youth wing president of Odisha Congress Rajat Choudhury and former additional government advocate and former lawyer of the enforcement directorate (ED) Debasish Panda hours after they deposed before the officials here for interrogation for their alleged complicity in the AT Group chit fund scam.

debasish panda

According to sources, the duo arrived at the office of the investigating agency and was interrogated in connection with the AT Group chit fund scam. Later, they were arrested by the agency.

The arrest comes after AT Group chief Pradip Sethy was grilled by the CBI in Jharpada Special Jail here, earlier in the day.

Notably, Rajat was interrogated by the CBI—probing the multi-crore-rupee chit fund scam in Odisha—for two consecutive days his alleged links with the Ponzi firm in April this year. It was the fourth time he was quizzed by the agency.

Following Rajat’s interrogation, senior Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra had said that he had resigned from the post of president of Odisha Pradesh Youth Congress (OPYC) on moral grounds. However, he had denied his resignation.

The youth Congress chief came under the scanner of the agency in 2014 for a land deal involving Rs 94 lakh. One Mitu Mohanty had allegedly obtained a plot of land from AT Group which is worth Rs 94.77 lakh. Mitu had allegedly taken the possession of the plot without paying a single paisa to the AT Group for the same. Rajat Choudhury had acted as a mediator in the transaction.

Earlier, the CBI had submitted that Panda’s name had figured in the documents seized during raids at the residence of Crime Branch DSP Pramod Panda indicating his complicity in the AT scam.

The Central investigating wing had claimed that the seized documents showed Panda’s links with Pradeep Sethi.