The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch continued its raid on different wings of Seashore Group, now in the eye of chit fund controversy, across the State. On Tuesday, five more properties of the company, which is accused of duping thousands of investors, were seized.
Three properties in Angul district and two in Cuttack were sealed by the EOW. The Angul properties included a 15-acre farmhouse before which the investors have been staging demonstration since the chit fund fraud came to light.
The second property was a cold storage which the company had taken on lease from the State Government. The storage is shut down since long.
Similarly, the branch office of the company in Angul was also confiscated by the Crime Branch officials. The building, sources said, was was taken on rent to run the branch office.
Conducting simultaneous raid, the EOW also sealed two properties in Cuttack where the company had a music office. These offices were under lock and key for quite some time.
“We need to seize the movable and immovable property of these firms for future purposes. In the event of a direction for liquidation from a court of law, the same can be auctioned and the proceeds used to pay off the duped investors,” said a senior CB officer.
It has already sealed at least six premises of Seashore Group in various districts including the head office in Bhubaneswar. Seashore Group which had spread its businesses into multiple sectors is believed to have mopped up several hundreds of crores rupees from the public.
Meanwhile, the EOW has presented the production warrant issued by a Balasore court before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kolkata seeking remand of Saradha Group Chairman Sudipta Sen. “We may get him on remand but that would take quite some time since Sen is charged in several cases and production warrants have been issued by many courts in West Bengal.
The sequence will be followed and our turn may come some time by June-end,” said the officer.