A day after the marathon interrogation of his political aide Dilip Mishra and BJD leader Prafulla Singh by the CBI in connection with the Seashore chit fund scam, Industries and School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra on Saturday said he had no idea why the Central investigating agency had called the duo for quizzing.
“Please don’t try to complicate this matter. I don’t know why the CBI had called them. I will get the details after I meet them,” a visibly irritated Minister told the media here when asked about the matter.
Stating that the CBI can interrogate anyone it wants to, the Minister urged the investigating agency to present all the information it has on the boating projects in the Mahanadi and the Atri project, which were taken up by the Seashore Group of Companies, in the public domain.
Reacting to the statement of the Minister, BJP State vice-present Sameer Mohanty said his party has been alleging close nexus of the State Government with the Seashore Group.
He said Debi Prasad Mishra, during his tenure as Culture and Tourism Minister, had allowed Seashore to set up a boating project in the Mahanadi along with a restaurant on the outskirts of Cuttack city. Besides, he had also given permission to the company to manage a Government-run guesthouse at Atri in Khordha district. “All these bear ample testimony to the bonhomie the State Government enjoyed with the Seashore Group,” he maintained.
“We have been repeatedly demanding that the CBI probe the matter thoroughly and make it public. Since the Culture and Tourism Department had signed MoUs with Seashore, the CBI needs to grill (Debi) Mishra too,” Mohanty told the media.