Odisha court extends CBI custody of former AT Group director

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Aug 26:

Special Judicial Magistrate (SJM) court of CBI, Odisha today granted request made by the CBI to extend the remand of Sambit Khuntia, former Artha Tatwa (AT) Group director by 2 more days for further interrogation in the multi-crore chit fund scam in the state.

The CBI counsel had requested the court to allow the agency to take Khuntia for a few more days on remand.

The SJM court had allowed the Central agency to take Khuntia on a 10-day remand for interrogation on August 17, the term of which ended today.

Sources in the CBI said the investigators will interrogate Khuntia along with AT group chief Pradip Sethy and his accountant Shrikrushna Padhi, whom the agency took on a 10-day remand today.

The idea is to elicit crucial information regarding the modus operandi of the AT group, the biggies who received illegal gratification from the company and of course the money trail.

Khuntia was arrested by a CBI team on August 16 following a raid at his residence located at the Bata Mangala Housing Board colony in Khordha district.

During the search operation recently, the CBI had seized 31 computers and several important documents from the AT Group office in the state capital.

The investigating team had also seized several incriminating documents, hard drives and photographs of some city-based builders and politicians from the office.

The police has so far confiscated properties of the AT group amounting to Rs 410 crore that include 11 expensive cars, 159 buildings, 242 acres of land and a bank balance of Rs 2 crore.

The AT Group is among 44 firms under the CBI scanner for duping thousands of investors in the state.