Chairman and Managing Director of Seashore Group of Companies Prashant Dash on Monday sought to link the crackdown on his company to the failed coup against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik allegedly engineered by former BJD leader Pyarimohan Mohapatra on the night of May 29, 2012.
“I was surprised when raids were conducted on my company barely a day after the alleged midnight coup,” he said, denying his links with Mohapatra, former chief political advisor to Naveen Patnaik.
“I still cannot figure out what exactly went wrong immediately after the alleged coup since my companies were doing very well till then. After all, the State Government itself had signed several MoUs with my company in areas like cooperatives, tourism and health. I am sure the Government must have ascertained the credentials of the company before doing so,” Dash told mediapersons while being taken to the Khordha Dstrict and Sessions Court where he was produced later in the day at the end of his 14-day ED (Enforcement Directorate) remand.
later, the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here allowed the CBI to take Dash on a 14-day remand for further interrogation.
Dash said his companies had invested money to the tune of Rs 50 crore in the projects, for which MoUs were signed with the Government.
“I have provided all details to ED officials during the course of my interrogation,” Dash said.
While 6.5 lakh people were duped of Rs 4,375 crore between January 2012 and June 2013 by several chit fund companies, the Seashore Group alone is accused of swindling over Rs 700 crore from the deposits collected from thousands of people across the State. Established in 2005-06, the Seashore conglomerate forayed into a host of fields including money circulation, real estate, media and gold trading.
The firm executed several projects in partnership with the State Government, fuelling allegations of possible patronage given to the firm by some ruling BJD politicians.
Dash was arrested from Mumbai on June 19, 2013 and has been implicated in 37 cheating cases in various police stations in the State for duping investors by promising hefty returns.