Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Crime Branch on Thursday arrested BJD leader Soumya Sankar “Raja” Chakra for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore scam connected to Gandhamardhan Loading Agency & Transporting Co-operative Society Ltd.
The arrest comes a day after the Orissa High Court rejected his pre-arrest bail petition.
Though Chakra was not named as accused in the case registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch, he filed an anticipatory bail petition after the EOW interrogated him in connection with the case and also conducted raids on business units linked to him in different parts of the state.
“This court finds force in the submission made by the counsel for the state that the custodial interrogation is imperative in the case at hand to unravel the truth and interrogation would become a ‘mere ritual” in the event they are protected by pre-arrest bail,” Justice V Narasingh observed.
THE ALLEGATION
It was alleged that he exercised clout in the cooperative society established in 2006 and engaged in loading of iron ore from the mines in Keonjhar district, despite holding no official position and funds of the society were siphoned off at his behest by forging documents related to labour costs, employment provident fund deductions, money spent towards peripheral developmental activities, infrastructural expenses and payments made to the people affected in the mining area between 2017 and 2024.
The BJD leader has a transport and logistics business.
CB INVESTIGATION REVEALS
“Such investigations are complicated. We have examined about 17 bank accounts while probing his financial transactions and tracing the money trail. The loading agency earned around Rs 185 crore from 2017-18 to March 2024. The work order doubled to 12 million tonnes in 2017-2019 and accordingly income also increased,” Crime Branch DG Vinaytosh Mishra told a presser.
There is a clear Rs 9.1-crore irregularity against Raja, he said.
The DG further stated that former president Manas Ranjan Barik and secretary Utkal Das of Gandhamardan Agency, arrested on February 7, along with some local influential persons, defrauded Rs 34 crore under the guise of peripheral development. “Another Rs 9.1 crore were diverted to Maa Kali Petrol Pump, which did not supply fuel to GML but to vehicles belonging to Chakra, with payments made by GML,” he said.
Mishra said that Rs 33 crore were distributed to local villagers to ensure their support for Chakra. “Around Rs 74 crore were shown as loading charges and labour payments, but the muster roll and vouchers showed major discrepancies. The period is set for audit, as the society has not conducted audits since 2012-13,” he said.
“Though Chakra was not officially associated with the society, he controlled its operations through his associates Sadashiv Samal, Sudhansu Shekhar Naik, and Samir Jena. Chakra established Shankar Mineral, Shankar Transporting, Shankar Roadways, and Shankar Project to run his business empire,” he said.
However, his associates, who allegedly siphoned off funds meant for peripheral development, have not been detained, he clarified.
While 42 vehicles belonging to Chakra and two screening plants have been seized, several bank accounts have been frozen, with the seizure of Rs 25 lakhs from banks, he added.
Further investigations are underway to ascertain the possible involvement of others in the scam.
