The Commissionerate Police (CP) on Friday recommended to the State Government for confiscation of properties worth Rs200 crore of Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, a chit fund company which is part of the 44 companies to be probed by the CBI.
“We have written to the State Government for confiscation of property of the AT Group in two phases which include 106 acres of land and some flats owned by the company,” said Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma.Notably, the Commissionerate Police in May last year had arrested AT Group’s managing director Pradeep Sethi on charges of running illegal financial business and duping investors and had seized 13 vehicles and some plots of land belonging to the group in the course of its investigation into the multi-crore chit fund scam in November last year.
Sethi, who is now lodged at Jharpada jail, is involved in financial fraud amounting to more than Rs350 crore collected from gullible investors across the State. The company has allegedly collected deposits of at least Rs1.5 crore from investors in the capital city alone.There are 25 criminal cases against Sethi in different police stations in the State. Besides, a number of cases were also registered against him earlier in several districts including Baleswar, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Khurda and Mayurbhanj. The Commissionerate Police are investigating nine out of 11 companies of the AT Group.