Chit fund scam fall-out on Odisha literary world; Manoj Das donates Seashore honorarium to CMRF

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 27:

Taking note of the unsavoury revelations about the Seashore Group of Companies in the course of the ongoing CBI investigation into the mega chit fund scam in Odisha, eminent Indian writer Manoj Das has donated the honorarium of Rs 10 lakh he received from the company to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).

Das was the advisor of Sahitya Patrika, a monthly Odia magazine and Kishora Patrika, a monthly Odia magazine for teenagers, published by the Seashore publications division. Apart from contributing articles, he was in charge of planning the contents of these two magazines for which the company had paid him a monthly honorarium of Rs 1 lakh for some months.

Besides, the company had also paid a monthly honorarium of Rs 5, 000 to the assistant of Das for nine months.

After the involvement of the company in the mega chit fund scam came to light, a columnist had recently sought a clarification from Das as to how he was receiving the money from the company.

Besides, a blog in the facebook had also alleged that the Seashore was giving Das an honorarium of Rs 1 lakh to use his name once a month.

Distraught over these allegations, Das has given the media details of the circumstances leading to his involvement in these two magazines.

Besides, he has also donated the total honorarium to the CMRF.