BHUBANESWAR: Former Crime Branch DSP Pramod Panda was on Friday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly deriving financial benefits from chit fund firm Artha Tatwa Group. He is the first police officer in the State to be netted in the multi-hundred crore ponzi scam.
Panda has also been charged with conspiracy. His arrest could give the probe agency more insight into role of influential persons in the chit fund scam.
Currently posted as DSP of District Intelligence Bureau of Nayagarh, Panda was interrogated for the third consecutive day on Friday for his alleged links with Artha Tatwa Group chief Pradeep Sethy before being taken into custody. He will be produced before the court of Special Judge (CBI) on Saturday.
A CBI spokesman said Panda has been arrested on charges of “larger conspiracy and deriving undue financial benefits.”Sources in the probe agency said there was prima facie evidence to nail Panda and he could not provide any satisfactory explanation to counter the charges.
When the investigating agency raided his Bomikhal residence in Bhubaneswar on September 25, it found documents pointing to his close acquaintance with Sethy. Copy of the FIR and chargesheet filed against AT Group Director Jagabandhu Panda, agreement between him and AT Group, his letters to the company and a visiting card of Sethy were among the seizures.
A computer education institution ZICA, which Panda’s wife Geetanjali runs in Bhubaneswar, was found to have received funds from suspicious sources.
The CBI, which seized financial documents relating to the institution and its bank statements, suspects that money may have been diverted to ZICA from AT Group accounts.
The CBI also has recorded statement of the travel agent and possesses documents indicating that Sethy booked air tickets for Panda and made payment for the same. The CBI sleuths also found a letter Sethy had written to the DSP from the jail establishing his links.
The DSP, who had acquaintance with AT Group Director Jagabandhu Panda, has admitted to the fact that he was asked to engage lawyer for the latter when he was arrested. Besides, Panda had allegedly threatened original petitioner in the chit fund case Alok Jena and his wife in New Delhi and two cases have been lodged in this connection.
Before the DSP was formally arrested, Jena also arrived at the CBI office to provide documentary evidence against Panda. Earlier, two IPS officers, Rajesh Kumar and Satish Gajbhiye, were quizzed by the CBI in connection with the Seashore Group scam.