Balasore: BJD leader Raja Chakra was on Wednesday taken on a three-day remand by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch following permission granted by a court in Balasore.
The special OPID (Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors) Court in Balasore granted permission for three-day remand of Soumya Sankar Chakra, popularly known as Raja Chakra after considering the probe agency’s petition.
The Crime Branch had sought seeking a five-day remand to question Raja Chakra in connection with alleged financial fraud, but the court granted only three days of custodial interrogation.
A prominent leader of BJD, Raja Chakra was arrested on March 14 following allegation of his involvement in a multi-crore transport scam and mining irregularities in Keonjhar district. He was subsequently produced before the court by the Crime Branch and sent in judicial custody till March 19
The probe team is likely to question him intensively regarding his involvement in the alleged financial misconduct.
The Crime Branch is keen to gather crucial information related to the money trail and possible accomplices involved in the financial irregularities. Investigators will also focus on recovering any misappropriated funds and identifying further leads in the case.
The next course of action will be determined after the completion of the three-day remand period, based on the findings of the interrogation.
It was alleged that Chakra 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. Based on a detailed investigation, it was found that the loading agency had earned around Rs 185 crores from 2017-18 to March 2024, official sources said.