Odisha chit fund scam: CBI grills Astha chief

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 10:

The CBI probing the multi-thousand crore chit fund scam in the state today interrogated Subhransu Lenka, the Odisha chief of Ponzi firm Astha International, a Surat-based money circulation company inside the Jharpada jail here.

A three-member team of the central investigation agency is grilling Lenka on where he had invested depositors’ money and his alleged political links, CBI sources revealed.

The CBI has obtained permission from the appropriate court to interrogate Lenka for two days.

Earlier, the CBI had questioned Lenka’s brother Chandrasekhar at its office on February 23.

Lenka was arrested by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on June 8, 2013 on the charge of embezzling about Rs 200 crore from investors in the state.

The company had opened two offices in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur in 2010.

The company had come out with a public notice on June 5, 2012 stating that it had been incurring losses and would cease to function.

Astha International had spread its operations to West Bengal apart from running real estate schemes in Odisha.