BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) on Wednesday conducted simultaneous raids at offices of Astha Group in 14 places across the country, including Odisha.
Astha Group offices were raided at three places, Jagatsinghpur, Angul and Bhubaneswar, in the State, CBI sources said.
The CBI conducted raids on the office and residenceof the ponzi firm’s chief Subhranshu Lenka in Rahama in Jagatsinghpur district and his rented accommodation at Ravi Talkies area in the Capital City.
Similarly, the ponzi firm’s offices at six places in Surat, two in Goa, one each in Indore and Jabalpur were also raided. The Group’s head office is located in Surat.
Raids were also conducted on residential premises of Santosh Kisan Sapkale and Chandrasingh Shivaji Chouhan, who were Directors of the company.
Lenka and three of his business associates are currently lodged in Jharpada Special Jail in the City. Lenka was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in June 2013 on charges of embezzling about `200 crore from investors in the State.
Later, the case was taken up by the CBI following a Supreme Court order to probe the multi-crore chit fund scam in Odisha and West Bengal. So far, 43 acres of land, owned by the company in Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal, a building worth Rs 1.8 crore and a Mercedes car have been seized, sources said.