ED grills former BJD MLA Pravat Tripathy in chit fund scam
BHUBANESWAR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday subjected former Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy to marathon grilling over his alleged links with the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group, a ponzi firm involved in the multi-crore chit fund scam in the State.
Tripathy arrived at the ED office in the Capital City at around 10.15 am and his interrogation continued till evening. The former MLA was also questioned by the Central agency a few years back in connection with the case.
"Tripathy was questioned for about nine hours. In its chargesheet, the CBI had mentioned that he had received Rs 42 lakh kickback from AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy. The ED is investigating the financial trail and whether he received any other favours from Sethy," said sources.
The officers had sought some documents from Tripathy which he produced on the day. Verification of the documents is underway. Tripathy was arrested by the CBI in October, 2014. In December the same year, CBI named 16 persons including Tripathy and seven companies in its chargesheet against the AT Group.
Tripathy was suspended from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) following his arrest. However, the BJD lifted his suspension in 2017. Last year, the Orissa High Court had rejected Tripathy’s petition seeking quashing of the CBI’s FIR against him in the case.