Chit fund scam: CBI arrests 3 functionaries of Swastik India

Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested three executives of chit fund firm Swastik India Multi State Credit Cooperative in connection with the company’s alleged money laundering activities.

Officials said, the arrested functionaries are –company’s chief Ranjan Das, Pramod Parida and Sabyasachi Pani.

In July, 2015 the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI had conducted simultaneous raids at 13 locations of Swastik India in the State including Das’s residence at Badagada Brit Colony in the city.

Swastik India operated from its offices at Nayapalli, Baramunda and Laxmisagar in the Capital, CBI sources said.

Besides Bhubaneswar, the agency sleuths conducted searches at several locations in Balasore, Bhadrak, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda. The company was operating its business and has offices in these cities.

Das, an accused in the multi-hundred crore Artha Tatwa scam, was arrested by the CBI last year. He and a former director of Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, Jagabandhu Panda, had floated Swastik India by allegedly mobilising depositor’s money from the AT Group.

Das, was arrested by the CBI in September 2014 and granted bail on health grounds by the Orissa High Court on January 29, 2015.