By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 10, 2015 :

The Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] on Tuesday staged dharana before the CBI office here and submitted a memorandum addressed to CBI chief Anil Kumar Sinha urging him to expedite the ongoing investigation.

“As you are aware, the Supreme Court monitored SIT is currently investigating the various Ponzi schemes/ Chit Funds that have fleeced lakhs of depositors of thousands of crores of rupees. In the process the CBI has raided and arrested several big name Chit Fund promoters and politicians including sitting MPs and MLAs, which is heartening news for the depositors. The case assumes added importance in the light of the fact that the interrogation of aides of the Chief Minister of Odisha also points towards his alleged personal involvement and complicity in the case”, the Memorandum said.

The party pointed out that discontentment is growing among the public over “what is perceived as the CBI going slow over the investigation, raising questions over the effectiveness, intention and credibility of the apex Agency. The inherent weaknesses in the CBI charge sheet have also lead to the accused easily getting bail in both the Artha Tatwa and Seashore groups”, it added.

The party also cited notes in the diaries and other documents recovered from Subhankar Nayak in a raid by CBI saying that they are of great importance not only for the investigation of the Chit Fund Scam but also for the public at large.

“It brings out the nexus between the Chit Fund operators, politicians, bureaucrats and middlemen in very clear terms. It graphically mentions how powerful politicians and bureaucrats received money to facilitate MoUs between the State Govt. and Seashore Group to operate business and services on behalf of the Govt. of Odisha. The people of Odisha have a right to know why the erring officials have not been investigated yet”, the Memorandum said.

The party demanded the details of the dairy at the earliest for what it called “in the interest of transparency and accountability to public”.