Ranjan Das

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided a steel plant near Athgarh in Cuttack district this morning.

A team of officials from Calcutta raided the plant, which was commissioned at Rampei village in 2009.

Though the exact reason behind the raid is yet to be ascertained, sources said the state government had attached the plant’s properties worth Rs 3 crore under the Odisha Public Demand Recovery Act in May last year.

ED petition

The enforcement directorate (ED) has filed a petition with a local court to take chairman-cum-managing director of Seashore Group Prashant Dash on remand. The deposit collection company has allegedly siphoned off Rs 1,700 crore from investors across the state. At present, Dash is lodged in jail. Sources said the enforcement directorate would take Dash on remand to trace the money trail of the group. Crime branch officials arrested Dash last year.

The crime branch has traced Rs 2 crore in 275 bank accounts of the group. Besides, the police have seized 2.96 quintals of silver and 1.38kg of gold of the company kept in various bank lockers.

Similarly, the crime branch had also traced 205 acres belonging to the group. The police have registered as many as 39 cases against the group’s sister companies.

In a related development, newspaper owner Bikash Swain and Artha Tatwa (AT) Group founder director Ranjan Das, whom the central investigating agency had arrested in connection with money laundering by the company, were today produced in court after their 14-day remand period came to an end. The court of special chief judicial magistrate, CBI, has reserved the verdict on the bail petition of both Swain and Das. Later, both of them were sent to judicial custody.