BHUBANESWAR: The CBI on Monday grilled Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) Secretary Ashirbad Behera in connection with the alleged links of chit fund companies with franchisees of Odisha Premier League (OPL).
Though the Central agency was tightlipped about Behera’s interrogation, it is seen on the lines of Swastik India MD Ranjan Das’ arrest on January 6.
Das, the owner of ‘Balasore Bagha’, a franchisee of OPL, was a director of scam tainted Artha Tatwa Group who later floated his own chit fund firm Swastik India. Both the companies are being probed by the CBI for swindling several hundred crores of public deposits.
The CBI, sources said, believes that Das also invested in other OPL teams by utilising the money collected from gullible depositors.
OPL was started in 2011 with 10 teams representing as many cities of the State. However, its second edition could not take off after the team owners came under Income Tax Department’s scanner on the source of investments made in the tournament and buying of teams.
Behera had deposed before the CBI earlier in connection with OPL’s sponsorship and role of AT Group, the title sponsor, in funding the tournament.