Chit fund scam accused and Seashore Group of Companies CMD Prashant Dash was released from the Jharpada Special Jail here on Friday.
Dash walked out of the jail as he has been granted bail in eight cases against him.
Notably, the CBI, which is probing into the mega chit fund scam, had filed a 276-page charge-sheet in which it had named Prashant Dash, his brother Pravat Dash and middleman Subhankar Nayak and accused the company of swindling Rs 578.20 crore from investors.
Prashant Dash was arrested by State Crime Branch from Mumbai on June 20, 2013 before the case was handed over to the CBI under a Supreme Court order later.
He was lodged at the Jharpada jail since then. However, the release of Dash evoked strong reactions from the duped investors, who have lost their hard-earned money in the scam. Though they had very high hopes from the CBI, now with the release of Seashore chit fund scam main accused Dash, the probe has turned into a farce, some investors said.
The CBI is to be blamed as it failed to put forth before the court ample corroborative evidences against Dash. Now, the CBI should challenge Dash’s bail in the Supreme Court, the investors demanded.
“The people’s financial backbone was broken after being duped of crores of rupees. Despite the State Government’s assurances, the investors are yet to be compensated by refund of their money cheated by the chit fund companies like the Seashore Group. Dash’s release has come as a shock to the thousands of investors and sends a very wrong message,” they said.
The BJP in its reaction said the duped investors have not got their money back but have their faith in the judiciary. The BJP also has full faith in the Indian judicial system.
Party spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said the investors should get appropriate justice and action should be taken against the guilty.
But due to the State Government failing to provide correct information in the court, the chit fund accused are getting acquitted one by one, he alleged.
He said that in the Seashore chit fund scam, many top BJD leaders including MLAs are involved. The State Crime Branch trying to shield the BJD leaders gave too much time to Prashant Dash.