The officials of the Enforcement Directorate raided multiple places linked to former Odisha Minister and senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Prafulla Samal on Thursday.
As per reports, the central probe agency is conducting simultaneous raids at 10 places linked to Bhandaripokhari MLA Prafulla Samal -- six places in Bhadrak town and four places in Bhubaneswar.
The ED is also conducting raids on the house of the former principal of Barapada Engineering College.
It is suspected that the raids are being made in connection with alleged financial irregularities at Barapada Engineering College in Bhadrak. It is pertinent to mention here that there had been prior protests in Bhadrak over the same issue of financial irregularities in the college.
It has been alleged that the Minister and his son Prayaskanti Samal are involved in a multi-crore scam involving Barapada Engineering College where the father-son duo has allegedly swindled crores of rupees collected from students as fee to buy lands and flats in Bhubaneswar and other places.
Replying to media queries, Samal's lawyer said, "This seems like a conspiracy. against my client. We are tyrying tom contact the ED officials but they are neither seeing us nor commenting anything. Prafulla Samal has many diseases. he needs continuous treatment. The ED officials are harassing him."
While no actual reason for the raids has been revealed by the ED officials yet, it is expected that the probe agency will make a statement after the raids are over.