A facility developed by Odisha Tourism and Seashore Group in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubanseswar, Sept. 25: A CBI team today raided the house of Seashore Group chairman-cum-managing director Prashant Dash and other places in the state to ferret out facts about the activities of his money deposit collection conglomerate.

Dash, already in jail for having duped investors, is now the focus of the CBI investigation into the multi-crore money deposit collection scam. The group is alleged to have duped investors of around Rs 1,200 crore.

Dash, who was arrested by the crime branch from Mumbai in June last year, is languishing in the jail with his bail pleas having been turned down by courts a number of times.

A CBI official said searches at a Bhubaneswar-based engineering institute had led to recovery of documents allegedly showing substantial payment of around Rs 9 crore made by Dash.

The Seashore Group, of which he is the chairman-cum-managing director, has nearly 39 cases against it. Starting his career as a lecturer in a suburban college, Dash rose to dizzying heights, allegedly amassing huge wealth once he entered into the world of money deposit collection. The 48-year-old economics lecturer from Bantala College in Angul district had Midas touch when it came to multiplying money by convincing investors.

The CBI sleuths today raided Dash’s house at Jharpada and the company’s office at Saheed Nagar here. The agency also raided the residence of Gopal Chandra Sahu, one of the group’s directors, at Nayapalli, and also his house at his native village of Sarua near Khurda.

The crime branch has handed over the bank accounts, cheques, land documents, bank drafts and the receipt of gold biscuits purchased from the banks and jewellery shop to the CBI.

Before floating the company, Dash had started money circulation business in Angul. But, the venture failed and he left Angul for Bhubaneswar, where he formed the Seashore Group.

To attract customers, the company offered 24 per cent interest per annum to the investors against their deposits, which was nearly three times the rates offered by nationalised banks.

With right political connections, the group was able to create a niche for itself in the money circulation market within a short span of time. Soon it diversified products launching STV Samachar, Soubhagya Drinks, Seashore Dairy Products, Seashore Pharmaceutical Industries, Seashore Biotech Private Limited, Seashore Pen Industries and Seashore Roller Flower Mill.

The group had also signed a number of MoUs with the state government and its agencies to set up joint ventures. While it inked a pact with the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency to set up a solar plant at Titilagarh, another MoU was signed with Idco to set up a maize processing plant at Ummerkote in Nabarangpur district. It also got the rights from the state government to promote tourism at Atri hot spring near Khurda and develop tourism on the banks of the Mahanadi river in Cuttack.

Such was the rise of Dash that within a short span of time his company was able to purchase hundreds of acres in various parts of the state. The crime branch had seized nearly 203 acres located at 17 places.

The crime branch had also seized from the company a number of luxury cars and 212 gold bars, of which 147 weighed 5 grams each and 65 weighed 10 grams each. Two quintals of silver coins weighing 100 grams each were also seized, along with the surety deposit made by the company to the tune of Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.5 crore, respectively, with Idco and the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency.

“All these documents submitted by the crime branch to the CBI will be of great help in expediting the case,” said an official.

The CBI also continues its investigation into the affairs of the Artha Tatwa (AT) Group and its chief Pradeep Sethy’s glamour connection. For the second time in the past three days, Mumbai-based model and tele-serial producer Priti Bhatia today turned up at the CBI office here for interrogation.

Priti had set up a company called Prismheights Films & Entertainment Private Limited with Sethy and one Indu Dewan, whose identity is being ascertained. The company had produced an Odia film of which Priti was the co-producer.

In yet another development, Orissa High Court today asked the counsel for the former advocate-general Ashok Mohanty, now in judicial custody following his arrest by the CBI, to move Khurda district sessions court for bail. It also directed the CBI to submit the case diary tomorrow.

Moreover, the CBI today conducted searches at 17 places in the state, three in Mumbai and one location each in Bangalore, Calcutta and Dadra and Nagar Haveli in connection with the money laundering scam by the group.