BHUBANESWAR: The war of words between Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hotted up once again on the run-up to the panchayat polls hours after State ruling party MP Rabindra Kumar Jena came under the radar of the Central Excise sleuths who searched his office and factory premises at Balasore on Monday.
His office at OT Road and factory of OM Pipes were searched by the Central Excise officials. While the raids have come almost a month after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) went after him, the Lok Sabha member said, he had no clue why the Central agency was targeting him.
“First it was CBI, now the Central Excise. It looks like politically motivated because the panchayat elections are drawing close,” Jena said, only to receive a rebuttal from Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram who told a private TV channel that the BJD MP has been spared in the past. He must thank his stars that he is not behind bars, he added.
Jena, though, said he was unaware why his premises were searched by the Central Excise. “I have been into business for long and never before have I faced such investigation,” he said adding that he could not get any satisfactory answer from the investigators about the complaints basing on which the raids were being conducted.
On January 12, the CBI had raided Jena’s office, home at Balasore and residence at New Delhi in connection with the Seashore Group loan deal. Supratik Group, which Jena heads, had taken a term loan of `18 crore from Seashore Group.
While the premier probe agency had issued a summon to the MP asking him to appear, Jena has applied for anticipatory bail from the Orissa High Court.