By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 4, 2015 :

The CBI on Wednesday conducted raids at the three flats of ponzi firm Rose Valley in Odisha State Housing Board building here at Ram Mandir square and seized huge piles of documents.

The leading investigating agency also seized photographs of chief minister Naveen Patnaik with the senior executives of the company.

The CBI also raided the offices of Rose Valley Group at 42 other locations across the country.

The central investigating agency raided 27 locations in West Bengal, seven in Tripura and one location each in Odisha, Assam, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, a CBI release said.

Searches were also conducted in the residential premises of Rose Valley Group chairman Gautam Kundu, managing director Shibamoy Dutta and former directors of the company, including Abir Kundu, Ramlal Goswami, Ashok Kumar Saha and Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Tapas Paul, the release added.

In another development, hundreds small depositors on Wednesday gheraoed the local CBI officer alleging tardy progress in the investigation into the multi-crore chit fund scam.

They alleged that the CBI, under pressure from the BJP and BJD, whose leaders have been arrested in connection with their alleged involvement in the chit fund irregularities, had slowed down investigation.