Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), directing the agency to file its response on former MLA Pravat Biswal’s petition, seeking to quash the long-pending Seashore chit fund scam case against him and his wife.
In his petition, Biswal highlighted that despite the High Court’s earlier directive to conclude the trial within one year, proceedings in the lower CBI court have dragged on for more than two years. He urged the court to dismiss the case on grounds of prolonged pendency and non-compliance with judicial timelines.
The three-time MLA from Choudwar-Cuttack was arrested in September 2017 over his alleged links with Seashore Group scam, a major Ponzi firm that allegedly looted over Rs 1,500 crore from small investors. He was granted bail by the HC in June 2018.
Biswal was suspended from the party and denied a BJD ticket in the 2019 assembly election.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets worth Rs 3.92 crore of the former legislator under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in June 2022. In 2023, the CBI court-1 in Bhubaneswar framed charges against Biswal and his wife Laxmi Bilasini Biswal under sections 420, 120(b), 409, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC over a land deal with Seashore Group in which his wife allegedly received Rs 25 lakh from the chit fund company.
Earlier this year, Biswal was expelled from the BJD for “indiscipline and anti-party activities” hours after he questioned Naveen Patnaik’s decision on Rajya Sabha nominations and opposed the candidature of Santrupt Misra.
