Court asks jail authorities to produce Seashore CMD on Oct 14

Bhubaneswar: A local court has directed the superintendent of Jeypore jail in Koraput district to produce Seashore CMD Prashant Das before it on October 14.

District and sessions court judge D P Choudhury issued the direction yesterday while hearing a petition of the Enforcement Directorate which wanted to take Das on remand to probe the money trail of Seashore Group, which allegedly duped hundreds of investors.

The ED had on September 19 sought the court's permission to take Das on remand to establish the money trail in the ponzi scheme scam.

"We need to interrogate Das in order to get information regarding utilisation of about Rs 1,700 crore collected by Seashore Group from the investors," a senior official at the local ED office said adding it was among the 44 ponzi companies whose activities were being probed by the CBI as per order of the Supreme Court.

About 6.5 lakh people were duped of Rs 4,375 crore between January 2012 and June 2013 by several ponzi scheme companies. The Seashore Group alone is accused of embezzling over Rs 1,500 crore deposits from hundreds of people from across the state.

The group dealt in money circulation, real estate, gold trading and in several other sectors.

Das was arrested from Mumbai on June 19, 2013 and implicated in several cheating cases. He is presently lodged in Jeypore jail. Thirty-nine cheating cases were registered against him by police in different districts.