As part of its ongoing investigation into the mega chit fund scam in the State, the CBI questioned Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) secretary general Jagneswar Babu on Saturday.
According to sources in the CBI, Babu was interrogated about the money taken as loans and advances by a Balangir-based cooperative sugar mill, in which he is a key functionary, from a it may be noted, had earlier been raided in this connection last month.
Babu later told reporters that there was nothing wrong in taking Rs 2-crore loan for the sugar mill from the Artha Tatwa Group, which had formed a cooperative society with Government registration. The sugar mill has already repaid Rs 70 lakh of its loan amount, he added.
Curiously, Babu reached the CBI office here by an autorickshaw in an obvious bid to avoid the prying eyes of television cameras. But the charade went in vain as cameras did catch him going into the CBI office.
Babu had earlier denied the allegations and, instead, welcomed the CBI probe into the chit fund scam, claiming that he was the one who had been demanding a CBI inquiry into the issue.