The CBI office in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 25: The CBI today interrogated builder Santosh Naik for his alleged links with the Artha Tatwa group, which is being investigated for its involvement in the money deposit collection scam.

The builder had allegedly received Rs 1.25 crore as advance from the group to provide it with seven flats in a building at Laxmisagar. Sources said he was involved in the housing project of Artha Tatwa Group and had also received money from businessman Vineet Lalani, who was earlier arrested by the central agency.

However, while Naik obliged Lalani, he backtracked on his deal with the Artha Tatwa. Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police, which was earlier probing the scam, had also identified the seven flats in the Laxmisagar apartment for attachment. The police had also found the Artha Tatwa Group had either brought or constructed 158 flats, including 32 in Calcutta. However, it did not ascertain the ownership and current status of the flats. Chairman-cum-managing director of Artha Tatwa Group Pradeep Sethy had allegedly given a number of flats to influential persons to keep his business going.

Besides, the Artha Tatwa Group owned more than 200 acres of land at several locations across the state including Bhubaneswar. Sources said the market value of land belonging to the group in Bhubaneswar would be more than Rs 100 crore.

After taking over the case from the police, the CBI has so far arrested 14 persons in connection with the fraud by Artha Tatwa Group.

The CBI today interrogated Ipsit Pratihari, director of Seashore Group’s now defunct TV channel, STV, in connection with the financial irregularities committed by the group. During his second appearance before the investigating agency, Pratihari was quizzed for more than four hours.

The state government today told the Assembly it had incurred an expense of around Rs 48.02 lakh towards fees to lawyers in the money deposit-collection scam related cases. Of this, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam has been paid Rs 12.10 lakh and the state government owes him another Rs 35.53 lakh.