Bhubaneswar: A team of Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) today again interrogated the chief and other office bearers of chit fund company Artha Tatwa (AT) group, which allegedly duped about Rs 400 crore from investors in Odisha, for third consecutive day over alleged violation of Company Act. The investigating team hinted at registering fresh case against the ponzi firm.
The interrogation was held the special jail here at Jharpada where AT group boss Pradeep Sethy and his four associates are lodged, SFIO additional director Manoj Kumar Sahoo said. “Money trailing and financial transaction of the company will come to the purview of investigation” Sahoo added but refused to divulge details about information got from Sethy and his associates.
He said a fresh case will be registered against the company if any remarkable proof is established over violation of Company Act.
The four associates of Sethy -- Manoj Patnaik, Jyotiprakash Jayprakash, Srikrushna Padhi and Deepak Parekh -- are directors of the company and all the five key persons of AT Group were interrogated.
SFIO, he said, has been looking into which rules under the Companies Act have been violated by AT group.
Sethy had earlier alleged that two ministers in the ruling BJD had taken chit fund money from him. The SFIO investigation was being conducted on the order of the special CBI designated court in Bhubaneswar.
The court had ordered SFIO to interrogate AT Group's chairman and directors and submit the report within a month.