BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searched the bank lockers of Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra’s wife and daughter, the keys of which were taken by the agency during a raid last year in connection with the multi-thousand crore chit fund scam.
Mohapatra said that the CBI officials examined the two lockers in a bank in Sahidnagar area for two hours on Saturday. He said that the keys of the lockers were seized by the CBI during the search conducted by the agency at his house on November 18 last year.
The Rajya Sabha member, who is also the president of the Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM), said that he had insisted that the lockers should be searched on November 18. But the CBI had kept the matter hanging, he said.
Since no action was taken by the CBI for several weeks, Mohapatra said he had written to the CBI SP Manish Kumar Sinha on December 9 to complete the examination of the lockers at the earliest. “After my letter, the CBI officials searched the lockers on Saturday,” he said.
“My public image was at stake. Besides, my wife and daughter could not use the jewellery kept in the lockers as the keys were with the CBI. That’s why I had urged the CBI SP to open it at the earliest,” Mohapatra said.
The OJM president said that there was only jewellery in them and nothing else. “There were no documents or gold biscuits in the lockers,” he said.
Mohapatra said that he had declared his property list before the Election Commission while filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha election which is in public domain. “Besides, the CBI has also seized my passbooks,” he said.
The Rajya Sabha member had welcomed the CBI raid on his house on November 18, 2014. He was grilled by the CBI for over four hours on November 21 over his alleged link with the Seashore Group of companies. He was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) before the CBI raid on his house.