Already on the mat on the chit fund scam, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was in for further shock when its Choudwar-Cuttack MlA Pravat Biswal was interrogated at the CBI office here over the scam reportedly relating to the Seashore Group on Friday.
Biswal reached the CBI office at about 3.55 pm, about one and a half hours after his erstwhile BJD mentor Pyarimohan Mohapatra left the investigating agency’s office premises after a marathon four and a half hours long grilling on his alleged links with the Seashore Group.
While leaving the CBI campus, Biswal said he possesses a land of nearly 1.25 acres at Benapur in Jajpur district which is in the name of his wife laxmi Bilasini. The Cuttack-Choudwar MlA said he had entered into a deal with the Seashore Group on the land in 2011. The CBI asked about the land deal, he clarified.
While the interrogation was in progress, laxmi Bilasini, a former Zila Parishad chairman of Cuttack and Biswal’s nephew were spotted at the CBI office carrying some documents.
Earlier on the day, Rajya Sabha Independent member and Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) president Mohapatra who had entered the CBI office at 10 am, came out at 2.20 pm after the marathon grilling was over.
Though reporters repeatedly asked Mohapatra to know about the interrogation, he said he would not disclose anything asked by the CBI. “The CBI is an investigating agency and keeps all information secret. So, why should I speak about it in public,” remarked he.
When the reporters asked him about his often quoted statement on involvement of one-third MlAs of the ruling BJD in the chit fund scam, Mohapatra said, “If tomorrow the CBI thinks that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has some facts in connection with the matter, it may summon him.”
Sources said Mohapatra was interrogated along with Seashore Group chief Prashant Dash and land broker Subhankar Nayak. Earlier on November 17, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had interrogated Mohapatra for two and a half hours on link with Seashore. The probe agency had summoned Mohapatra after getting leads from Dash, who is on CBI remand, added the sources.
On November 18 last, a CBI team had conducted raid at Mohapatra’s houses at Saheed Nagar in Bhubaneswar and in New Delhi. The agency had seized some documents pertaining to Mohapatra’s bank accounts, and his party’s.