Artha Tatwa chit fund scam: Advocate Debakant Mohanty grilled by CBI for 3 hours

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has been probing the chit fund scam in Odisha, grilled government advocate, Debakant Mohanty at its Bhubaneswar office on Tuesday.

Mohanty was put on notice under section 160 of the CRPC on Monday by the premier investigating agency for deposition in connection with the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chit fund case. 

As per reports, the lawyer reached the CBI regional office at 3pm. Three CBI officials including a deputy superintendent interrogated him for three hours about the chit fund scam. Mohanty came out of the CBI office at 6 pm.
Notably, the CBI had arrested former advocate general Ashok Mohanty in connection with the Artha Tatwa chit fund scam. 

The ED is also probing the money laundering aspect of the chit fund scam by the Artha Tatwa(AT) Group.

On March 13, the ED grilled businessman Vineet Lalani days after raiding eight locations linked to him including six in Bhubaneswar and one each in Berhmapur and Chhatrapur. The ED had also quizzed another accused Sagar Ray. 

During raids, the ED sleuths seized cash worth Rs 23 lakh, a luxury car worth Rs 35 lakh, gold ornaments worth Rs 24.15 lakh, sale deeds, bank cheques, and digital evidence. 

Notably, five accused -- Manoj Das, owner of a TV channel, Bikash Swain, proprietor of an Odia daily newspaper, builder Vineet Lalani, and AT Group directors Sambit Khuntia and Manoj Patnaik -- arrested in connection with the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chit fund scam were granted conditional bail from the High Court on November 11, 2016.