Former Investigating Officer (IO) in the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group scam, Inspector Manoj Samanta of the Commissionerate police, appeared before the CBI here on Wednesday to assist the probe agency in preparing chargesheet against the accused arrested persons in connection with the AT Group scam.
Samanta said he had come to the CBI office to help the officials prepare chargesheet in AT Group case as he had investigated the case before the Central agency took over the case. “Since the CBI is planning to file chargesheet in the case soon, they had called me to seek some clarifications on the documents related to the case,” he told reporters.
Notably, Samanta acting on a complaint lodged by an investor with the Kharvela Nagar police station in February last year had arrested seven persons including AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy. But two out of the seven persons are now out on bail, he added.
After interrogating about 55 persons, Samanta had filed a preliminary chargesheet and then a supplementary chargesheet in the case in a local court. The chargesheet had named 246 persons as witnesses, he said.
The IO had seized properties worth Rs 410 crore from the AT Group’s sister companies, Artha Tatwa Multipurpose Cooperative Society ltd, Artha Tatwa Infratech Pvt ltd, Artha Tatwa Enterprises Pvt ltd and Artha Tatwa Multistate Credit Cooperative Society ltd. He had alsi seized 246 acres of land, 152 flats, 2.17crore cash, 11 vehicles and other properties of the company, he added.