Chit fund scam: CBI court rejects MLA Pravat Biswal's bail plea

Bhubaneswar: Dealing a blow to BJD MLA Pravat Biswal, a special CBI judge court today rejected his bail petition in connection with his links in the Seashore chit fund scam case.

After duly considering the CBI's charge-sheet against Biswal and hearing both parties, the court rejected the bail petition of the legislator, informed sources.

Biswal had sought bail earlier last month after the central probe agency filed its second charge-sheet against five persons including Biswal and his wife Laxmibilasini in the multi-crore Seashore chit fund scam.

In the 100-page document, the investigating agency has indicted Cuttack Chowdwar MLA of fixing a land deal with Seashore CMD Prashant Das and availing financial benefits of nearly Rs 25 lakh from Seashore Group for allowing the ponzi firm to operate in several parts of Choudwar and Jagatpur in Cuttack.

This apart, a case under section 420, 120 (B) of IPC has been registered against all the five accused including OAS officer Pradeep Hota while names of 60 persons have been mentioned as witnesses in the case.

Biswal was arrested in connection with the incident in September 2017.