BHUBANESWAR: If the Indian Premier League (IPL) is beset with controversies of spot-fixing and betting, its country cousin Odisha Premier League (OPL) appears to have its closet full of skeletons from multi-hundred crore ponzi scam.
With the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) subjecting Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Ashirbad Behera to a marathon interrogation on Sunday over financial transactions with Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, which invested heavily through sponsorships and promotion of franchisees, focus is back on the T20 tourney and functioning of the sports body.
This is for the first time that Behera faced CBI heat over OCA’s links with the Pradeep Sethy-headed AT Group, which is a major player in the multi-hundred crore ponzi scam. Along with him, five other office-bearers were also quizzed well past Sunday mid-night.
The recent arrest of builder Sagar Ray, who owned multiple franchisees in the OPL, provided the premier investigating agency with new evidence on the links.
Behera’s house was raided by the probe agency in August, but the OCA secretary was not summoned. His son, Sanjay Behera, who also happens to be secretary of Football Association of Odisha (FAO), was interrogated once. So was the head of accounts Md Ahat.
On Sunday morning, Behera was the first to be quizzed for about two hours. He returned in the evening with five others, who included Joint Secretary Sanjiv Dutta, treasurer Satya Mohanty, accountants duo Ahat and Satya Prakash Rout and contractor Sanjay Mishra. The interrogation was continuing till reports last came in.
Sources said the probe agency sought to know the details of the receipt and expenditure of Rs 1 crore that AT Group paid to OCA as sponsorship fees. Financial documents were called from OCA office-bearers, who were asked to submit documents to support their claims. Huge volumes of documents were being brought in during the interrogation.
Similarly, the CBI is also looking at how OCA overlooked the ownership patterns of companies that promoted the franchisees which had AT Group investment in one way or the other because the same set of people ended up buying various teams.
Of the 10 franchisees of 2011 edition of the OPL, Puri Emperors and Bhubaneswar Jaguars were promoted by companies in which builder Sagar Ray was a Director. The Puri franchisee was owned by Orisons Group, while LG Infrastructure bought the Bhubaneswar franchisee.
Similarly, Angul Tuskers was promoted by Bikash Swain, owner of Odia daily ‘Suryaprava,’ who is now cooling his heels behind the bars. Another scamster, Ranjan Das, who promoted chit fund company SV Infra, owned Balasore Bagha, the Balasore franchisee.
Besides, Sethy also was a Director with Orisons Mining and Minerals Pvt Ltd, a sister company of Orisons Group promoted by Ray.
“It could not have been a coincidence that all these chit fund companies successfully bid and owned the franchisees while the OCA never bothered to check who the original promoters were. We are looking at the link,” said a source in the CBI. The appointment of Australian cricketer Michael Bevan as head coach of Odisha Ranji team during the same period is also under CBI scanner.
Bevan was paid $35,000 per month towards training and preparing junior teams while Artha Tatwa Infra (India) Ltd, an arm of AT Group, had sponsored Rs 50 lakh for the Ranji Trophy Team for 2011-12. The probe agency is also looking at link of OCA with another chit fund firm, Seashore Group, which had secured the telecast rights of the T20 league. The company’s television arm Samachar TV was also the official partner for the tournament.
Currently, Seashore head Prashant Dash is in custody of the CBI too. Interestingly, the T20 tournament’s brand ambassador in 2011 was a film personality who is now a Biju Janata Dal MP. Last year, when the scam surfaced, Behera had assured to return Rs 1 crore to the State Government, but it did not happen.