The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a status report on its investigation into the Odisha chit fund scam by January 9.
The court asked the investigating agency to let it know about the latest development of the case on January 9.
According to sources, the court slammed the CBI on the tardy progress of the case. It asked the agency to specify the steps being taken by the Odisha Government to refund money to the chit fund beneficiaries.
A two-judge Bench comprising Justices MR Saha and Krishnamurari expressed displeasure over the Odisha Government’s delay in refunding money to the beneficiaries and directed the Government as well as the CBI to submit a status report on the development of the case by January 9.
The court again made it clear that it just cannot spend 10-15 years hearing a case. The CBI was also asked why it has failed to submit its charge-sheet in this connection.
The Seashore Group was the first chit fund company that came under the scanner of the court and, consequently, the court directed the CBI to investigate 44 chit fund companies.
The CBI, which showed uncommon promptness to round up several top leaders of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for their alleged nexus with chit fund scamsters before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, seems to have long lost its seriousness to bring to the book some top political bosses, bureaucrats and police officers in Odisha who looted thousands of crores of rupees from small investors.
For over five years now, the CBI has not touched a single accused person, allegedly allowing them time to tamper with evidences or wash off their hands.
The Opposition Congress has alleged that since most of the accused belong to the ruling BJD, the “foe-turned-ally” of the BJP, the CBI is deliberately dillydallying its actions against the accused.
Over 20 lakh small depositors in Odisha have been duped to the tune of Rs 32,000 crore by over 160 chit fund firms.
In the past, a sitting Lok Sabha member, two sitting MLAs and a former MLA, all of the BJD, were arrested by the CBI. The arrested BJD leaders included Ramachandra Hansda (then Mayurbhanj MP), Prabhat Tripathy (ex-MLA, Banki), Pravat Ranjan Biswal (ex-MLA, Choudwar) and Subarna Naik (ex-MLA, Keonjhar). An ex-BJP lawmaker, Hitesh Bargarti, was also arrested.
The last big arrest the CBI had made was in September 2017 when the then Choudwar MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal was picked up for questioning for his alleged links with the Seashore Group.