Bhubaneswar, Aug. 30: The CBI today conducted its interrogation of chairman-cum-managing director of Artha Tatwa Group Pradeep Sethy in presence of the central investigation agency’s joint director Rajiv Singh, who also heads the Special Investigating Team.

“Based on Sethy’s tip-off, raids will be conducted next week on the houses of people, who had availed themselves of financial benefits from the group,” said a CBI official.

Singh today visited the city to monitor the investigation conducted by the central agency regarding money laundering by sham deposit and collection companies.

Sources said Singh had reviewed progress on investigation with special emphasis on the Artha Tatwa Group, which has been on the CBI radar for allegedly laundering of money to the tune of Rs 500 crore.

Besides, Singh probed the role of SEBI and the RBI in allowing the company to flourish by violating the norms. The investigating agency raided a house of a stockbroker in Mumbai, who had allegedly obtained stock trading licence on behalf of the Artha Tatwa Group.

Sources said a number of influential people, including politicians, having nexus with the group destroyed evidence as police, which were earlier probing the case, allegedly shielded them. Sethy, too, had raised suspicion on the investigation of police.

The central agency today interrogated two businessmen and a builder in the city to extract information regarding their involvement in the scam. “We are verifying the bank transactions of the group to find out the money trail,” said a CBI official.

The CBI on August 16 raided 60 locations, including house of BJD’s Banki legislator Pravat Tripathy, for their alleged links with the company.

At present, the central agency is interrogating three company directors, Sambit Kumar Khuntia, Jyotiprakash Joyprakash and Srikrushna Padhi, apart from Sethy.

The CBI interrogated both the businessmen and the builder after Sethy had furnished the details of conversation through e-mail. The CBI is likely to nab the group’s other directors and officer-bearers, who have been absconding since the police lodged a case in February last year. The group had more than a dozen of persons in the board of directors, including Sethy.