Odisha chit fund scam: ED quizzes cricket czar Asirbad and others

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 22:

Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Asirbad Behera, along with three other officials of OCA, today arrived at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here for interrogation on their alleged links with the Ponzi firm Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, a major player in the mega chit fund scam in the state.

OCA joint secretary Sanjeev Dutta, cashier M A Ahad and accountant Basant Swain are the other officials who  appeared before the ED today.

This was for the first time OCA secretary and officials were grilled by the ED in connection with the chit fund scam.

The ED grilled them for nearly six hours on the financial dealings of the OCA with the AT Group in connection with Odisha Premier League (OPL)-the marquee event modelled on the IPL in .

Notably, the AT Group had sponsored the OPL tournament in 2011 and had paid Rs One crore towards sponsorship fees.

“They asked in detail about the Rs one crore. We told them the same thing that we had told the CBI. We had then told the CBI whatever they had asked and today we have told the ED whatever they asked about that Rs one crore. We have spent Rs 75 lakh on the hiring of coach Michael Bevan and Ranji players. Rest Rs 25 lakh was spent for OPL,” said OCA secretary Asirbad Behera to reporters after coming out of the ED office today.

Earlier, the CBI probing the chit fund scam had interrogated Behera and officials of the OCA on five occasions for their alleged links with the AT Group .

It may be mentioned here that the ED is probing the money trail of the companies involved in the chit scam in the country.