The CBI on Friday conducted simultaneous raids on the offices of chit fund company Royal International Group at eight places in Odisha and West Bengal. Sources said a 10-member team of the Central investigation agency raided the house of the company’s former director Sudhir Behera at Daulatabad in the Choudwar area in Cuttack district and seized some documents and bank accounts in his absence. The team also raided the company’s branch office at Gajapati Nagar in Bhubaneswar, the sources added.
CBI sources said the Kolkata-based company, one of the largest chit fund companies in West Bengal after the Saradha Group, also had its branch offices in Odisha, through which it has collected crores of rupees from the people.
In another development, the CBI on Friday submitted a second phase chargesheet against two directors of the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group and a former DSP of Crime Branch in the AT Group scam.The chargesheet was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court of the CBI here.
The 150-page chargesheet named AT Group directors Manoj Patnaik and Jagabandhu Panda and a former DSP of Crime Branch for conspiracy against the investors. The chargesheet stated that the directors had taken lakhs of rupees from the company and deposited in their own accounts. It also said that Rs 9 lakh had been transferred to a bank account of a city-based institute run by former DSP’s wife.
Besides, the chargesheet contained the depositions of 30 witnesses. The CBI has said the investigation is open for further investigation. Meanwhile, CBI DIG S Bagchi arrived here to review the ongoing probe in the chit fund scam. He discussed with seniors officers at the CBI office here about the technicalities of the probe. Sources said he would discuss with CBI SP MK Sinha about the next course of action.