TV news channel owner Das’s bail plea rejected
The CBI, probing the chit fund scam in the State, interrogated BJD MlA from Banki and former Government Chief Whip Pravat Tripathy on Tuesday in connection with his link with AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy.
Tripathy reached the CBI office here at 4.30pm and entered into the office for interrogation. The CBI sleuths started quizzing the BJD leader as soon as he reached the office. He was being interrogated till the report was written.
Reliable sources said the Central investigating agency asked the MlA about his alleged conversation with Sethy which was recorded in a CD. The officials asked him about his link with Sethy and the sum of money collected from the AT Group for organising the Banki Mahotsav.
Notably, a regional channel last year telecasted two separate conversations. In the first conversation, the channel could only guess, Sethy possibly spoke regarding his company’s affairs with the two persons separately.
In the second conversation, another person was seeking financial help from Sethy as the Banki Mahotsav was approaching. Sethy in his reply requested the caller to give him time till the 7th of the month. The caller further said, “I will ask Asishbabu to speak to you on 4th and 5th or I will speak to you directly.”
Earlier, the CBI had raided houses of the MlA and his aides to establish their link with the AT Group. Swastik India founder and AT Group co-founder Ranjan Das, who was very close to Tripathy, was arrested by the CBI earlier. Even MlA’s aide Ashis Sahu was interrogated recently. Meanwhile, the Special CBI Court here on Tuesday rejected bail plea of TV News channel owner Manoj Das, who was arrested by the CBI on Saturday, and sent him to judicial custody.