Odisha chit fund scam: Arrested businessmen sent on 8-day CBI remand

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Nov 6, 2014 at 5:51 PM Updated On : Nov 6, 2014 at 6:13 PM

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Nov 6:

The special CBI court here today sent the two businessmen arrested yesterday in connection with the Odisha chit fund scam – Vineet Lalani and Dilip Mohanty – on an eight-day CBI remand.

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They would be produced in the court on November 13, the judge ordered.

Sitanshu Mohan Dwivedy, the counsel for the two businessmen, said he had moved a bail petition on behalf of his clients, but it was not taken up for hearing today.

A medical check up was conducted on them at the Capital Hospital here before they were produced in the court in the afternoon.

While being taken for the check up, Mohanty, who is also a Congress leader, had said he had done no wrong.

Lalani and Mohanty were arrested by the CBI yesterday for their links with the AT group, one of the major players in the mega chit fund scam.

They have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and fund embezzlement.

Vineet Lalani and Dillip Mohanty, a former secretary of the Congress party, were directors in real estate firm Orisun Properties Ltd and were involved with the AT Group in land deals and construction of apartments and duplex houses, CBI sources said.

However, they were unable to provide credible statement of accounts on their transactions to convince the Central investigating agency, sources added.

During its interrogation of the duo, the CBI came to know that Lalani had taken huge amounts of money from the AT Group CMD Pradeep Kumar Sethy through the accounts of Orisun Group employees and had tried to dupe the AT Group, sources said.

Sources said Orisun Properties had constructed an apartment at Sundarpada in the city using AT Group money. However, later Lalani sold the apartment and took the money without making any payments to AT Group for its share, sources added.

The other accused Mohanty had got a plot from AT Group as gift. But he failed to explain to the CBI as to why AT Group had given him the plot of land as gift.

With the arrest of the duo, the total number of persons arrested in connection with the AT Group scam stood at 13.