BHUBANESWAR: Stepping up its focus on political links in the multi-hundred crore chit fund scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday grilled Biju Janata Dal MP Rama Chandra Hansda along with three others for about four hours over their role in Nabadiganta Capital Services Ltd.
The first company to have come under CBI raids when the agency started probe on July 31, Nabadiganta Capital Services Ltd had three political leaders, including Hansda, as its directors in the past.
During the raid, the CBI had seized Rs 28 lakh in cash from the Mayurbhanj MP’s Baripada residence. However, the Lok Sabha member on Friday claimed that the cash was his own.
“The cash seized by CBI was mine; it had nothing to do with the chit fund scam,” he told mediapersons after the interrogation was complete. “I have provided all necessary information to CBI. The matter is sub judice and it is up to the court to decide who is involved,” he said.
Nabadiganta Capital Services was charged with collecting huge amounts of deposits from small investors. Apart from Hansda, former BJD MLA of Keonjhar Subarna Naik and former BJP MLA from Khariar Hitesh Bagarti were its directors.
After he came under CBI scanner, Hansda had claimed that he had initially picked up insurance policies from the company and later agreed to get on board as a director since the firm wanted to create employment opportunities for the youth. He had also invested about Rs 7 lakh in the firm, but received returns of only about Rs 1 lakh. When he got suspicious about the company’s activities, he quit, the MP had claimed. The CBI also quizzed Nabadiganta Capital Services CMD Anajan Baliarsingh and two other directors, Kartikeya Parida and Pradipta Patnaik.
Baliarsingh asserted that the company did not cheat the investors. The firm, he said, had mobilised deposits up to Rs 14.7 crore and paid back Rs 7.27 crore to depositors. “We stopped taking deposits after Saradha scam surfaced, but could not pay rest of the investors since bank accounts of the company were frozen,” he said.
He also claimed that the three political leaders had resigned as directors much before the General and Assembly elections. All the details of the company’s income and expenditure were regularly furnished to Registrar of Companies and the CBI too has been provided the same. Meanwhile, newly-elected Youth Congress president Rajat Choudhury was also grilled for four hours by the CBI for his alleged links with local businessmen, who had financial interests with Artha Tatwa Group.