CBI grills aides of min in Ponzi scam

BHUBANESWAR: The CBI on Friday quizzed an office staff and a close associate of cabinet minister Debiprasad Mishra for their alleged links with the Seashore Group, a chit fund company. Mishra's diarist Dilip Mishra and associate Prafulla Singh, a former BJD executive president of Cuttack district, were questioned for nearly four hours.

"We suspect both of them availed undue financial benefits from the Seashore Group, which had bagged several projects from different departments of the state government. One of the projects was from the tourism department of which Debi Mishra was the minister in 2008-09. We are trying to find out whether the duo collected money from the Seashore Group at his behest," a CBI officer told TOI.

Dilip, who is attached to the minister's residential office here for several years accused BJD's Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy of misleading the CBI by naming him in the scam. CBI had arrested Tripathy in October 2014 in connection with Artha Tatwa (AT) Ponzi scam.

"Banki MLA mentioned about me to the CBI. Tripathy alleged I was collecting kickbacks from Seashore on the direction of the minister. Tripathy's allegations are false and baseless," Dilip told the media. "I do not know why Tripathy dragged me into the controversy. The CBI may directly ask the minister," Dilip said.

Tripathy denied having named the minister's diarist. Debi Mishra, industries minister, said he was unaware of CBI's summon to his staff. "Dilip did not tell me about it. I do not know why CBI questioned him. I have no links with the Seashore Group," the minister said.

Even as Tripathy and Mayurbhanj MP Ramachandra Hansdah were arrested in separate chit fund cases, the Seashore scam caused maximum damage to the ruling party. On November 22, 2014, the CBI interrogated chief minister Naveen Patnaik's man Friday Saroj Sahu in it. Choudwar-Cuttack legislator Pravat Biswal and Balasore MP Rabindra Jena were also quizzed in Seashore Group scam. Some BJD leaders were also examined in AT Group scam.