Thirteen days after he was arrested by the CBI for his links with AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy in the chit fund scam, the State Government suspended former Crime Branch DSP and present Nayagarh District Intelligence Bureau (DIB) DSP Pramod Panda on Thursday with retrospective effect from December 19, the day he was arrested.
Questions had been raised by various quarters, including rights activist Jayanta Kumar Das, for the Government’s alleged willful delay in suspending the arrested police officer. “As per rules, a Government employee is supposed to be suspended within 48 hours of his or her arrest in a criminal case. How the Government suspended Panda after 13 long days of his arrest,” asked Das.
There were allegations that powerful circles in the State police were trying to shield Panda, who had earlier investigated several chit fund cases before the investigation was entrusted to the CBI. Panda was arrested by the CBI on the charges of larger conspiracy and deriving undue financial benefits from the AT Group. He is the first and so far only police officer to be arrested in connection with the mega chit fund scam.
The Special CBI Court here on December 24 denied him bail. He is presently lodged at the Jharpada jail here. During a raid at his Bhadrak residence on November 18, the Central investigating agency had seized some crucial documents that pointed to financial transactions between him and the AT Group. Sources said the CBI had also got evidence of transfer of huge amounts of money from the AT Group to a computer centre named ZICA run by Panda’s wife Gitanjali.