The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed a second chargesheet in the Special CBI Court here in connection with the Seashore Group chit fund scam against five persons, including Choudwar-Cuttack BJD MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal and his wife Laxmi Bilasini.
In the 100-page chargesheet, MLA Biswal has been accused of having financial benefits from the Seashore Group by facilitating the company to run its business in the Choudwar area of Cuttack.
The chargesheet was also filed against retired Odisha Administrative Services (OAS) officer and former Cuttack Collector Pradeep Kumar Hota and his wife Pratima for showing undue favours to the chit fund firm.
A case under Sections 420 and 120 (B) of IPC has been registered against the five, who also include Seashore CMD Prashant Dash.
Notably, MLA Biswal was arrested by the CBI) on September 19 last year from his Mahanadi Vihar residence in Cuttack for his alleged complicity in the scam.
The MLA is under scanner over a deal between his wife Laxmi Bilasini and Seashore Group CMD Prashant Dash over a piece of land of 34 gunths at Benapur Mouza in Jajpur district.
Dash had paid Rs 25 lakh for the land by cheque in two instalments to Laxmi Bilasini in April 2012. However, Dash had cancelled the deal later and wanted his money back.
The MLA’s wife had claimed that she returned the money to Dash by cash and was in possession of an agreement between her and Dash on court paper in the matter.
Similarly, bureaucrat Hota was arrested by the CBI on October 11 last year under charges of extending undue favours to the Seashore Group during his tenure as the Managing Director of the Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited (APICOL) from 2008 to 2011. The Seashore Group had reportedly transferred Rs 19.70 lakh to Hota’s joint account with his wife.
The CBI, which is probing into the chit fund scam, had earlier filed a 276-page chargesheet 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 of investors’ money.