Court allows three-day remand of Odisha YC leader, lawyer

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jul 5:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Chief Judicial Magistrate (Spl CJM) Court in the Odisha capital today allowed the CBI to take arrested former Youth Congress state president Rajat Choudhury and senior High Court lawyer Debasish Panda on a three-day remand for further investigation.

Both Choudhury and Panda were arrested by the CBI for their alleged complicity in the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chit fund scam on Monday.

The duo was arrested after AT Group chief Pradip Sethy was grilled by the CBI in Jharpada Special Jail earlier in the day.

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. Choudhury had acted as a mediator in the transaction.

The CBI had earlier 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.

It may be noted here that Panda was a former additional government advocate and former lawyer of the enforcement directorate (ED).