Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raided 43 places across the country, including in Odisha, which were directly or indirectly linked to chit fund firm Rose Valley.
The Central probe agency conduct raids at Rose Valley’s office located in Jagannath Complex in Kharvela Nagar in the city and seized many incriminating documents along with many pictures of officials with prominent political leaders.
The CBI sleuths also found a picture of chief minister Naveen Patnaik photographed with the officials of the company inside the office.
Meanwhile, CBI has also conducted raids at 43 locations of the Rose Valley group across the country, including 27 in West Bengal, in connection with the multi-crore rupees chit fund scam.
“In an ongoing investigation, searches are being conducted at 43 locations across the country including 27 in West Bengal, seven in Tripura and one location each in Odisha, Assam, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu,” said a top CBI official.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is also probing the scam, had sealed several bank accounts of the group across the country and interrogated its chairman Gautam Kundu. The group’s properties in Odisha were confiscated following a court order on February 25.
In a written reply, Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha had told Rajya Sabha last month that the Saradha group and the Rose Valley group had raised Rs 12,740 crore illegally. Investigations revealed that the Rose Valley group alone had mobilised as much as Rs 10,281 crore from gullible investors, he had said.