Bhubaneswar, Sept. 4: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today interrogated as many as 18 agents working with the Artha Tatwa Group in Jagatsinghpur and Bhadrak districts.

Though the group duped thousands of investors in various districts, sources said it had done maximum business in Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Bhadrak districts.

“During interrogation, the agents said they were given 30 to 35 per cent of the money collected from the investors. We would also interrogate other agents, who used to work for the company to ascertain the quantum of investment,” said an official, who belongs to the probe team.

He also said the central agency would interrogate agents from other districts as well. The CBI today also interrogated the owner of a vernacular daily to ascertain his alleged nexus with chairman-cum-managing director of the group Pradeep Sethy.

Besides, the investigating agency today continued with its interrogation of Sethy and one of the directors of the group, Srikrushna Padhi, after taking both of them on three-day extended remand.

“Sethy, during interrogation, had said that the group used to pay 10 to 15 per cent to the agents as commission on deposits. Today, we interrogated the agents to verify Sethy’s claim,” said a CBI official.

A CBI official said they would verify the bank accounts of the group in the state and abroad.

“During interrogation, Sethy said that the group had several accounts in the state and outside as well. We will verify the accounts belonging to the group,” said the CBI official.

However, sources said the police, during their probe, had found a number of bank accounts of the group but it failed to trace the money trail due to lack of expertise.

Besides, the central agency would also investigate whether the group had kept money in banks outside India. “The group was involved in gold trading business. So, it is possible that it might have kept some gold and money outside the country,” said an official.

In another development, the CBI today took documents from the crime branch, which were probing into the money laundering scam by Seashore, a money deposit collection firm.

Sources said the central agency was likely to raid several offices of Seashore and persons, who had availed themselves of benefits from the company. The crime branch, so far, has identified more than 200 acres, 1.3kg gold, two quintals of silver, Rs 2 crore worth bank deposits, some industrial units, farmhouses and buildings belonging to the group.

Yesterday, the agency had sought extension of Sethy’s remand on the grounds that it needed to further investigate him to trace the money trail of the group.