ED Seizes Rs 45 Lakh, High-End Car & Gold During Raids In Artha Tatwa Chit Fund Case In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials reportedly seized an expensive car, over Rs 45 lakh cash and a huge quantity of gold during raids at multiple locations in Odisha, including Bhubaneswar.

As per reports, the ED officials conducted simultaneous raids at five locations in Odisha since Thursday in connection with the Artha Tatwa (AT) chit fund scam case.

During the searches, officials of the central investigating agency reportedly seized one SUV, Rs 15 lakh cash and around 700 grams of gold ornaments from the house of a contractor, sources said.

This apart, Rs 30 lakh cash and some gold ornaments were also recovered form the house of another accused in the chit fund case.

The fresh action by the central investigating agency, which is part of its probe into large-scale financial irregularities in chit fund in the state, has come after a long gap.

Teams of ED sleuths carried out search operations in at least five places of the state, including three locations in Bhubaneswar.

The office of a newspaper organisation in the state capital was also searched. The office of a builder was also raided by the central probe agency in connection with the chit fund scam case, sources said.

The agency officials were stated to be scrutinising several files, documents, and other materials during the search operations at different locations.

In Bhubaneswar, search was carried out at the newspaper office located near Shriya Chhak. It may be noted that the owner of the organisation had been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and sent to jail in the case. He was later released on bail.

It may be noted here that the CBI and ED probed 44 chit fund organisations in several parts of the country, mainly in Odisha and West Bengal. Artha Tatwa was one of these outfits. The ED had earlier raided several places in connection with Artha Tatwa chit fund too and attached property worth more than Rs 133 crore.

Now the ED has again opened the AT chit fund file after getting information on involvement of other persons in this case, sources said.