Odisha court sends Seashore chief’s brother on 7-day CBI remand

Reported By Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Jan 24:

The special CBI court here today sent Pravat Dash, brother of Seashore group of companies chief Prashant Dash who was arrested earlier in the day in connection with the Odisha chit fund scam, on a seven-day remand for further interrogation.

He will be produced in the court on January 30 at the end of his seven-day remand, the court ordered.

CBI counsel Kali Charan Mishra had prayed to the court to take the accused on remand for further interrogation.

CBI arrested him today following a questioning session this morning. He is accused of embezzling company funds to the tune of Rs 3 crore.

The CBI sleuths, probing the mega chit fund scam in the state, grilled Pravat Dash here this morning about the Rs 3 crore allegedly transferred to his account.

‘‘I don’t have any involvement in the misappropriation,’’ Pravat told the waiting media persons outside the central agency’s regional office here.

Notably, Pravat was Director of as many as 15 ventures of the Seashore group of companies including Seashore Securities Ltd, which had collected investments from investors from across the state assuring them of high returns.

‘‘My client has been granted anticipatory bail by High Court in several cases lodged by Crime Branch. Today he has been arrested in a similar case. However, the investigating officer said, it is a fresh case. This is not proper. Some funds were transferred to his account regarding a land deal at Angul for which payments were done through cash as well as cheques,’’ Pravat’s counsel Bijay Kumar Kar said.

It may be noted that, Seashore group of companies is being investigated by CBI as part of multi-thousand crore Odisha chit fund scam. BJD Baleswar MP Rabindra Jena was recently questioned by CBI for his links with the tainted firm.