HC Jolt To Ex-BJD MP Rabindra Jena In Seashore Chit Fund Scam

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has refused to quash the CBI case filed against former BJD MP Rabindra Jena in multi-crore Seashore chit-fund scam.

Jena, who was summoned thrice by CBI for questioning, had admitted having business terms with the Ponzi firm but denied any complicity in the scam.

While the prominent entrepreneur of Balasore was accused of availing financial benefits from Seashore Group, he had claimed that Supratik group of companies headed by him lent an amount of Rs 18 crore to the latter in 2010. Seashore had paid back most of the money, but still owed Rs 1.86 crore.

In 2019, the HC granted him interim bail in the case.

The alleged involvement of some BJD leaders in chit-fund scams came to the fore after the CBI took over the probe following the Supreme Court directive on May 9, 2014.

The BJD’s Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy and Mayurbhanj MP Ramachandra Hansdah were arrested in two separate cases in 2014. Subsequently, the ruling party’s Dharmasala MLA Pranab Balabantray, Choudwar-Cuttack legislator Pravat Biswal and Balasore MP Jena were quizzed in the scam. Biswal was arrested in 2017 in connection with the land transaction between his wife and Seashore Group chief Prashant Dash in 2011.