Berhampur, March 15: Police have requested the CBI to probe into a money deposit collection firm's link with ex- Congress MLA Ramesh Jena, who was arrested on March 6 for a string of crimes.
"Jena had links with the Ponzi firm. We found evidence that the firm had gifted him a bullet-proof Lexus car worth more than Rs 1 crore. It was seized from Jena's possession in Bhubaneswar," said inspector general of police (southern range) Amitav Thakur.
"We would also request the enforcement directorate and the crime branch to help us investigate Jena's other links," he said.
The company allegedly swindled crores of rupees from investors through its four subsidiary firms - Green India Properties Pvt Ltd, Green India Infra Projects Pvt Ltd, Green India Retail Pvt Ltd and Green India Multi-state Co-operative Pvt Ltd. It is alleged that the firm has swindled around Rs 100 crore from investors across the state.
The police also suspect Jena's involvement in the apartment business in Visakhapatnam, Bangalore and Mumbai with money obtained through tender fixing, extortion, arms trade and Ponzi firm. "We have detained two builders," said Berhampur sub divisional police officer Santanu Kumar Dash.
The police also suspect Jena's involvement in the murder of former sarpanch of Moulabhanja Srinivas Rath.
The cops further suspect Jena's link in inter-state arms trade. "We have formed six special teams to probe into the allegations. We have already sent one team to Vishakhapatnam on Monday. Other teams will leave for Bengal, Jharkhand, Haryana and other states," said Berhampur police superintendent Sarthak Sarangi.
The police scrutinised some tender papers of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation for 2015-16.
"We suspect that the tenders were fixed with Jena's help as around 10 per cent more extra payments were made," he said.
The cops raided Jena's house at Bila Sahi and Tulsi Nagar in the city once again and said they would conduct polygraph test on him. "Jena is hiding many facts during the interrogation. If he continues to hide facts, we may opt for lie detection test," said a police official.
