Bhubaneswar, Sept. 6: Chairman-cum-managing director of Artha Tatwa (AT) Group Pradeep Sethy, who is under the CBI scanner for alleged money laundering, today hinted at the involvement of politicians, including those from the BJD in the money deposit collection scam.

The group had allegedly collected money to the tune of Rs 500 crore from the investors across the state.

Sethy before leaving the court after the special chief judicial magistrate, CBI, rejected his bail plea told reporters that he had invested Rs 1.65 crore in an advertisement agency, which had close links with some politicians, including two BJD members. After the revelation, questions are being asked about the identity of these BJD leaders. Earlier, the CBI had raided the house of former chief whip and BJD MLA from Banki Pravat Tripathy. Sethy and one of the directors of the group, Srikrushna Padhi, were today produced in the court after their extended remand period expired. Later, Sethy was sent to Jharpada jail after the court rejected his bail plea. The court also ordered that no person would meet Sethy without prior permission of the court during his stay in the jail. The CBI had challenged the bail petition of Sethy on the ground that investigation against him is still on.

The court of special chief judicial magistrate, CBI, today also granted 14-day remand of Bikash Swain and Ranjan Das to the central agency. The CBI sleuths arrested the duo in connection with the money laundering scam by the group.

The CBI yesterday arrested Bikash Swain, owner of a vernacular news daily, and Ranjan Das, one of the founder members of the group. Das was also chairman of multi-state credit co-operative society Swastik India. The society, too, had allegedly siphoned off money from investors across the state. Sources said Swain had availed himself of financial benefits from the group to the tune of Rs 4 crore.

The central agency last night raided Swain’s office and seized his bank accounts and other documents. On the other hand, the CBI today interrogated four builders in connection with the scam along with a few agents of the group. Sources said the group had collected maximum money through its offices in Berhampur, Balasore and Bhubaneswar.

While the group has allegedly collected Rs 79 crore from Berhampur, it also collected a whopping sum of Rs 47 crore from Balasore. The group, too, had allegedly collected Rs 43 crore from investors in Bhubaneswar.

Sources said the group had collected crores of rupees mostly through its monthly investment plan.