Reiterating his demand for an independent and thorough investigation into the chit fund scams in the State, former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik on Saturday alleged that the State police investigating the frauds have massively bungled in their probe.
In his third letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the chit fund frauds this month, Niranjan Patnaik said, “The police action on chit fund frauds seems to be eyewash if the contents of the laughable FIRs filed by the police are to be believed.”
“Some lawyers have shown me laughable FIRs filed by the police against fraudulent companies where cases have been registered under Section 420 of the IPC and provisions of the Prize, Chit & Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, 1978. A bare reading of these nebulous half-page FIRs would show the intent of your police. FIRs have been filed by them on their own information stating that during raids they have found that these companies were cheating people. No one cheated has been named; no amounts mentioned; the manner of cheating not explained. Either your police officers have no clue to investigation of white collar crimes like chit fund cases or they have deliberately filed FIRs that do not prima facie reveal that the accused have made any wrongful gains or that anyone has suffered any wrongful loss, which is the basic ingredient of cheating,” Patnaik wrote.
As a consequence of all this, he said, the owners and agents of the errant companies are easily managing relief from courts while their lawyers say that the investigation is so perfunctory right from the beginning that the cases would eventually end in acquittal. “If this is not a whitewash, what else is,” Patnaik asked.
Patnaik also sought an explanation from the Chief Minister on the suspected roles of his own party men in the chit fund frauds and urged him to investigate the chit fund scam by a SIT.