By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 18, 2020: Seven years after it started investigating into Rs 578 crore Seashore Chit Fund scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday raided the residence of former minister and the ruling BJD MLA Debi Prasad Mishra here.

A five member team of CBI also raided even other places on Friday. The raid continued for more than three hours.

The legislator currently under home isolation after being tested positive for COVID-19 said he has been cooperating with CBI in the investigation for last seven years.

“The officials asked me about the boating project on Mahanadi and verified some old documents related to it. During my tenure as Tourism Minister, I had allowed the company to set up the project as per the Government’s decision,” he told media persons.

Earlier, the investigating agency had interrogated two associates-Prafull Singha and Dillip Mishra, of the Badamba Narasinghpur MLA. Besides, BJD’s former MP from Mayurbhanj, Ramchandra Hansdah and former chief whip Pravat Tripathi were arrested on chit fund scam by CBI. They are now out in bail.

In September 2017, CBI had arrested the then BJD MLA Prabhat Biswal in connection with the ponzi scam. He was later released on a bail in June 2018.

Interestingly, the central investigating agency had reopened the case in June and interrogated one of the main accused, Subhankar Nayak, to ascertain the role of two IAS officers and one IPS officer in the scam.

Seashore Group is one of the 44 chit fund companies in Odisha that came under the scanner of CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the Supreme Court gave its order to probe their finances and transactions. The ED had registered a case against Seashore Group in 2014.

The Seashore Group had reportedly raised around Rs 578 crore from unsuspecting people with an offer of 36 percent interest per annum on their deposits.

It had also served notices to the then General Manager of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) Sangram Keshari Ray and Parag Gupta, who was posted as secretary of the Tourism Department when these agreements with Seashore Group were made.