Bhubaneswar: Former MLA Pravat Biswal, facing charges in the multi-crore Seashore chit fund scam, suffered a fresh blow as the Orissa High Court dismissed his petition seeking to quash the CBI case against him.
While refusing to drop the proceedings, the High Court directed the Special CBI Court to expedite the trial and conclude it within six months, emphasising the need to avoid unnecessary delays and repeated adjournments.
The Seashore Group was one of several entities involved in major Ponzi schemes that defrauded investors of hundreds of crores in Odisha during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Biswal and his wife, Laxmi Bilasini Biswal, were allegedly linked to a land deal in which the latter reportedly received around Rs 25 lakh from the firm.
The three-time MLA from Cuttack-Choudwar was arrested by the CBI in September 2017 in connection with the scam in which small investors were duped of over Rs 1,500 crore. He was granted bail by the HC in June 2018. 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. Charges were eventually framed against him and his wife in 2023 under relevant sections of the IPC, including those related to cheating, criminal conspiracy, and forgery.
He had previously approached the High Court, which had directed the trial court to complete proceedings within one year. However, more than two years have passed since that timeline, with the trial still pending. Citing this inordinate delay and alleging a lack of concrete evidence, Biswal filed a fresh petition seeking quashing of the case.
The High Court did not accept these arguments and instead issued a fresh, stricter directive for the Special CBI Court to fast-track the matter.
This comes two months after Biswal was expelled from the BJD for “indiscipline and anti-party activities” for questioning Naveen Patnaik’s decision to nominate Santrupt Misra to the Rajya Sabha.
