Armed with a copy of a chargesheet filed by the CBI in court in connection with the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chit fund scam, senior Congress leader and former Brahmagiri MlA lalatendu Bidyadhar (lulu) Mohapatra on Thursday charged that Minister Sanjay Dasburma has been named in the CBI’s chargesheet for possessing a Mitshubishi Pajero SUV gifted by the AT Group, a major player in the multi-thousand crore chit fund scam in the State.
Mohapatra, without taking the name of Dasburma, said, “A 53-year-old BJD leader and the president of Biju Yuva Janata Dal, also holding two important Ministerial portfolios, had taken this Pajero gifted by the AT Group chief Pradip Sethi. I have seen that Pajero, which later disappeared. I want to ask the police what action has they have taken against this BJD leader and where that Pajero SUV is nowIJ”
He dared Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take action against his Ministerial colleague for his complicity in the AT chit fund scam.
He also challenged Dasburma to file a defamation suit against him at the HC if he is making arbitrary and false statements against the Minister.
Dasburma in his reaction evaded Mohapatra’s persistent reference to the CBI affidavit and, instead,
indulged in the usual political rhetoric of “I shall quit politics if the charge against me is proved or else he (Mohapatra) should take Sanyas from politics.”