The CBI on Thursday carried out searches at 11 places in Kolkata and five locations in Odisha against Odisha-based firm Asha Agro Equipment Industries in connection with the chit-fund scam.The agency conducted searches at the offices and residences of the Managing Director Tarun Kumar Barui and directors Ranjit Santra, Susanta Mohapatra, Ananta Barik and Parimal Biswas.CBI has registered 44 cases in Odisha against as many chit fund companies that operated from the State and allegedly duped thousands of investors of several crore rupees.
The agency is probing the inter-State multi-crore scam cases in West Bengal, Odisha and other States following a directive from the Supreme Court. The CBI has formed a Special Investigating Team headed by Joint Director Rajiv Singh to probe the scam and role of regulatory agencies like SEBI and RBI in mushrooming of such a large number of chit fund companies.