Following the unsavoury revelations about the Seashore Group in the course of the ongoing CBI investigation into the mega chit fund scam in Odisha, Jnanapeeth award winning writer Manoj Das has donated the honorarium of Rs10 lakh he had received from the company to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).
Das was the advisor of Sahitya Patrika, a monthly Odia literary magazine, and Kishora Patrika, a monthly Odia magazine for teenagers, published by the Seashore publications division. Apart from contributing articles, he was in-charge of planning the contents of the two magazines, for which the company had paid him a monthly honorarium of Rs1 lakh for some months. Besides, the company had also paid a monthly honorarium of Rs5,000 to the assistant of Das for nine months.
After the involvement of the company in the chit fund scam came to light, a columnist had recently sought a clarification from Das as to how he was receiving the money from the company.Besides, a blog in the Facebook had also alleged that the Seashore was giving Das an honorarium of Rs1 lakh to use his name once a month.
Distraught over these allegations, Das has given the media details of the circumstances leading to his involvement in the two magazines. Besides, he has also donated the total honorarium to the CMRF.