Bhubaneswar: Senior BJD MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal has been arrested by the CBI in a chit fund scam, evoking a sharp reaction from Odisha's ruling party that on Tuesday accused the Centre of misusing investigative agencies.
The CBI, probing the multi-crore Seashore Group chit fund scam, called the Cuttack-Choudwar legislator to its office here last night and subsequently arrested him, the agency sources said.
Biswal's brother Arta Ranjan Biswal and lawyer Anup Senapati said the MLA was arrested and kept at CBI's State Headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
Biswal, a three-time MLA, was produced before a special CBI court after a medical examination, the sources said. The court remanded him into CBI custody for five days and he will again be produced in court on September 23.
"Truth will prevail. It is a political conspiracy against me and my party," Biswal told reporters while being taken on custody by the CBI from the court premises here.
Police had a tough time in taking Biswal out of the court as large number of BJD activists gathered outside the court in support of Biswal.
Biswal has been under the CBI scanner for a long time. The CBI is probing alleged payment of Rs 25 lakh by Seashore Chairman cum Managing Director Prasanta Kumar Dash to Biswal in two instalments as "protection money" for allowing smooth operations of the company in his constituency, the CBI sources said.
They alleged that the amount was received in the account of his wife.
The payment was allegedly camouflaged as a genuine business transaction by creating forged and bogus documents on stamp papers.
The company had allegedly indulged in collecting over Rs 1,000 crore promising high rate of interests and misappropriated these funds. It is alleged that the company failed to return Rs 500 crore of deposits to the investors.
Earlier this year, the CBI team had raided Biswal's government quarters in MLA Colony in Bhubaneswar and his house at Mahanadi Vihar locality in Cuttack, they said. Biswal was questioned several times in 2014, while his wife Laxmi Biswal was also grilled by the CBI.
A number of cases have been registered against nine companies of the Seashore Group.
Seashore Group was among the 44 ponzi companies which have come under the scanner of the CBI.
Soon after reports of Biswal's arrest spread, Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik held a high-level meeting at his residence to discuss the political fallout of the development.
Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Deb, BJD Vice-President Debi Mishra, Finance Minister Sasibhushan Behera, MLAs Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Sanjay Das Burma and Pranab Prakash Das were among the leaders who attended the meeting at Naveen Niwas.
As several BJD leaders were embroiled in ponzi scheme cases, the regional party had earlier suspended Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy and Mayurbhanj MP Ramchandra Hansdah, after they were arrested by the CBI for alleged links to chit fund companies.
"Biswal's arrest appeared to be politically motivated. It could be a game plan of the BJP as its President Amit Shah had indicated a move on this line during his recent visit to the state. Why CBI did not arrest Biswal earlier, though he was interrogated several times in the past?" BJD spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP P K Deb told reporters.
Deb, considered to be a confidante of Patnaik, alleged that Biswal's arrest was made under the pressure of the BJP which is heading the government at the Centre.
"If Biswal is guilty, then he must be brought under the law. But the way he was arrested now raises doubt. The arrest by the CBI at this juncture when the BJD is fighting against fuel hike creates doubt," Prasanna Acharya, another MP who attended the meeting at Naveen Niwas, said.
He alleged that it was a clear case of the BJP-led NDA government targeting non-BJP governments, especially in eastern India.
"Our party is in favour of an impartial probe into the scam but it appears that the Centre is misusing CBI and agencies like the Enforcement Directorate but the BJD will fight it out politically," Acharya said.
Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik said that there was no problem if the BJD MLA was arrested over his alleged involvement in the scam but wondered why the CBI took so long to nab Biswal, who has been interrogated several times in the last three years.
The timing of the arrest raises doubts about the CBI misuse by the BJP, he said.
Senior BJP leader K V Singhdeo, however, ruled out any political conspiracy behind Biswal's arrest.
Meanwhile, BJD activists staged a demonstration in Cuttack on Tuesday, raising slogans against the CBI and the BJP over Biswal's arrest. The youth BJD activists also staged a demonstration protesting Biswal's arrest.
Biju Chhatra Janata Dal, the student wing of the BJD, held a bike rally to the state capital from Cuttack. "We will stage demonstration in front of the CBI office," said BJD student wing president Chinmay Sahoo.
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