Bhubaneswar: A fresh FIR has been lodged against Ardhendu Das, the editor of a private news channel whose residence was raided by the Econonic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch on Tuesday for allegedly duping a person to the tune of about Rs 1 crore.
The fresh FIR has been lodged at Badagada police station in Bhubaneswar by Biswajit Sahoo, Director of Bhubaneswar-based Intraxis Business Ltd.
Sahoo has alleged that his firm had leased 4,226 sqft space on the second floor of a building on Tankapani Road to A Media Venture, whose managing partner is Das.
The lease agreement executed with Das is from November 1, 2020 to October 30, 2023, Sahoo claimed.
In his police complaint, Sahoo alleged that Das has not paid him rent amounting to Rs 5.81 lakh, including maintenance and electricity charges, was damaging the property and threatened him with dire consequences.
The EOW carried out the raid on Tuesday in a separate case filed against Das by Gangandeep Singh of Delhi-based Solution Broadcaster Proprietor. He has alleged that Das contacted him in 2020 to set up a television channel at Badagada on Tankapani Road.
He had signed a Rs 1.47-crore agreement with Singh for electronic items and provided Rs 10 lakh in advance. Singh dispatched the required items on October 21, 2020. Das was required to pay the remaining amount in six months. When he failed to pay even after 20 months, Singh approached the Crime Branch here, sources said.
Following this, Das was served notices to depose before EOW twice, but he failed to do so. He was also not present during the raid on Tuesday.
The news channel headed by Das has claimed that a conspiracy has been hatched to frame him.
Odisha Bytes tried to contact Das over the phone to get his version but he did not answer. We will carry his version as and when we get it.
Notably, Das had moved the Supreme Court against the Orissa High Court’s May 9 order not granting a stay on the ongoing construction and excavation works around the Jagannath Temple in Puri, as part of the Naveen government’s Rs 3,200-crore heritage corridor project. The apex court, however, quashed his petition, calling it “frivolous”.
