Special CBI court allows CBI to take AT group chief Sethy, accountant on 10-day remand

Bhubaneswar, Aug 25: Special Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court of CBI this evening allowed the CBI officials to take Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chief Pradip Sethy and his accountant Shrikrushna Padhi on 10 days remand to interrogate them on their role in the multi-crore chit fund scam case in Odisha.

AT Group chief Pradip Sethy

The duo was again produced before the court, following the court decision postponding August 23 hearing to, today.

The Judge of court gave the judgement after hearing a fresh case filed by the CBI studying the received files, during the course of investigation, from the state police and the evidence it had collected during the recent raids on the company’s establishments and the residences of AT group officials.

Kali Charan Mishra, counsel of CBI said after hearing the fresh case of CBI that they handed over to the magistrate, passing an order, allowed the central agency to take the duo on remand for a period of 10-days.

“We got 10-days remand against our request to the court to take the duo for a period of 14 days,” Mishra added.

A CBI official said Sethy would be quizzed about his claims made during the interrogation by the state police last year that he had paid large sums of money to several political leaders, bureaucrats and journalists as ‘protection money’.

Padhi would be questioned about the irregularities in maintenance of the company’s accounts, he added.

 

More than 50 persons including ministers, politicians, mine owners, builders and journalists are facing allegations of taking Rs 65 crore bribes from the AT Group, the officer added.

On August 23 Sethy's lawyer Durga Prasad Dhal had strongly opposed the remand seeking bail plea of his client but the CBI counsel had sought more time to prepare his argument for which the hearing on the matter was postponed to Monday.

Opposing CBI counsel argument Dhal requested court not to allow their opponent to take Sethy on remand stating that the state police had already taken his client on remand for interrogation and had filed chargesheet against him putting him behind bars since last year.

On the otherhand, the CBI counsel said the central agency wants to interrogate Sethy on the basis of new evidence that has come out after the recent raids conducted at his office headquarters and houses of his companions and relatives, besides the residences of senior BJD leader Pravat Tripathy and his associate Subas Padhi. The agency had also scrutinised the accounts of Tripathy and Padhi in the Banki branches of three banks.

Sethy was arrested by Kharavela Nagar police on May 12, 2013 following allegations that his company had duped investors of crores of rupees. The police has so far confiscated properties of the AT group amounting to Rs 410 crore that includes 11 costly cars, 159 buildings, 242 acres of land and Rs 2 crore in bank balance. Twenty-six cheating cases have been registered against Sethy at different places in Odisha.

Talking to mediaperson here Sethy said his interrogation would help the CBI officials to nab many influential persons in the state who had taken crores of money from him refusing to name them.

The AT Group is among 44 firms under CBI scanner for duping thousands of investors in the state.