Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, as the chief of the ruling BJD, hatched a conspiracy against Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) general secretary Jagneswar Babu to save three of his party MlAs and a Minister from the heat of chit fund scams,” alleged OJM president Pyarimohan Mohapatra here on Saturday.
While addressing the Press, Mohapatra said Artha Tatwa Group chief Pradip Sethi had told the media earlier about the involvement of these MlAs and the Minister and had given all the data to the police regarding this, but where has the data gone and why is the Government silent in the matterIJ. To save three MlAs and a Minister, whose names were already declared in the media, the ruling party played a dirty game and arrested Babu to harass the OJM, he alleged.
Mohapatra said there were no irregularities from the side of Babu in sanctioning a loan of Rs 36.18 crore from the Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB) to the Bijayananda Cooperative Sugar Mill in his home district Balangir in 12 instalments from 2009 to 2010, but it was a political vendetta to harass the OJM and Babu by arresting him.
He questioned as to why the Government is keeping silent over the allegations made by opposition political parties and showing defensive attitude when the investors and several organisations demand a CBI probe into the chit fund scams. “If the State Government is clear and transparent, why does not order a CBI inquiry into the matter,” Mohapatra asked.
All the political parties along with the investors have been demanding return of the invested money in a smooth way, but the Government finished its duty by setting up of a judicial inquiry commission. “Confiscate all the illegal properties of the chit fund companies and distribute that among the investors after liquidation of the seized assets,” the OJM chief asked the Government.
Mohapatra said the chit fund scams are Government-sponsored because of the involvement of ruling party leaders in them and the Government’s failure in recovering the money. “The Government agencies didn’t interrogate Jagneswar Babu on the chit fund scam anticipating that the truth may come out against the ruling party while quizzing him,” said Mohapatra.