The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch (CB) on Saturday seized 100 kg of silver coins from the personal bank locker of arrested Seashore Group CMD Prashant Dash, said CB DIG Rajesh Kumar.
The DIG, while informing about the seizure, said the investigating sleuths confiscated 1,000 silver coins worth around Rs 44 lakh from Dash’s personal locker at Axis Bank’s Bomikhal branch in the city.
Each silver coin weighing 100 gm has the logo of Seashore Group on one side and images of Goddess lakshmi and lord Ganesh on the other, he added. The coins were seized following Dash’s revelation during interrogation. With the help of a goldsmith and a bank officer, a team of 10 CB officers recovered the coins after breaking the locker.
Meanwhile, the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Jeypore, rejected the bail plea of Dash and sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.
Notably, Dash was arrested from Mumbai by a joint team of Semiliguda police and the CB on the basis of an FIR filed at the Semiliguda police station for cheating investors.
Again, an FIR was also filed against Dash at Jeypore town police station by Tapan Kiran Tripathy and others relating to the chit fund issue. Jeypore police, basing on the FIR, have registered a case under various Sections of the IPC and Sections 4, 5, and 6 of the Prize Chit and Money Circulation (banning) Scheme Act, 1978.
Meanwhile, the Sahadevkhunta police took Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chief Pradeep Sethi on two-day remand. The police would quiz Sethi regarding his company’s schemes, collections and investments.