A day after Pune Police arrested chairman and managing director of Samrudha Jeewan Group of companies Mahesh Motewar for his alleged involvement in a mega chit fund scam, the CBI on Tuesday raided at least 58 premises belonging to the same group of companies in Maharashtra and Orissa, in connection with two chit fund cases.
“The CBI conducted searches in 58 places against Samrudha Jeewan Group of companies in Mahrashtra and Orissa in connection with ongoing investigation of two alleged chit fund cases,” an agency spokesperson said.
“This is one of the chit fund companies that had allegedly collected money from the common man without having any valid legal authority. Searches were conducted in the office premises of Samrudhha Jeewan and its sister companies and residential premises of accused/ suspect director/ others of this company,” a CBI spokesperson said.
The premises searched during the day included 40 places in Pune, a few locations in Nasik, Aurangabad Solapur and two places in Orissa. Meanwhile, a Osmanabad court remanded Motewar in police custody till December 31 in connection with a case of cheating registered against him by the Osmanabad police.
It may be recalled that in 2012, the Osmanabad district police had registered a case complaint against Motewar in connection with a Rs 35-lakh dairy scam in the town of Umarga.
In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred Motewar’s group of companies, headquartered at Shivajinagar in Pune Shivajinagar area, from raising money from its investors, mostly hailing from rural and semi-urban areas.