Bhubaneswar, April 27: The court of the special chief judicial magistrate of the CBI today granted the investigating agency a five-day remand of Kishan Motewar, 47, the chief of deposit collection firm Samrudhha Jeevan for further interrogation in connection with a money laundering scam.
Though the investigating agency had prayed for a 10-day remand of the accused, the court granted it remand for only five days. Motewar is at present lodged in Choudwar jail. He was arrested on December 18, 2015.
CBI sources said that the Ponzi firm had duped thousands of investors of around Rs 400 crore even though the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had banned the company in 2013.
In December 2015, the central agency had conducted simultaneous raids at 58 places across the country, including two in Odisha, against the company. The firm is one of the 44 firms being probed by the CBI following a Supreme Court directive. CBI sleuths had searched the offices and houses of company officials in Bargarh and Malkangiri districts.
Motewar was arrested from Pune and was then brought to Odisha. Earlier, the state police had registered four cases against the fraudulent company.
Bail rejected
Orissa High Court today rejected the bail petition of the managing director of Seashore Group of Companies, Prashanta Kumar Dash, one of the prime accused in the multi-crore Ponzi scam in the state. Dash has been in jail since June 2013.
The single-judge bench of Justice C. R. Dash refused to grant bail to Dash because it would create impediment in the investigation. The justice, however, observed that a probe cannot go on endlessly and directed the CBI to complete the probe as early as possible. He further gave the Seashore chief the liberty to apply for bail after the final chargesheet in the case is submitted.
Prashanta was arrested by the state CID-crime branch from Mumbai on June 20, 2013. Investigation was then handed over to CBI on the order of the Supreme Court. The CBI had filed a chargesheet at the special CBI court on March 8, 2015, accusing Dash of swindling Rs 578.20 crore.
Dhal aide in net
Police today arrested Lalan Kumar Gupta, 28, an associate of the gangster siblings, Sushant and Sushil Dhal Samant, against whom seven cases were pending in different police stations in the city.
Lalan was allegedly looking after the illegal business activities, including collection of money and supply of arms and ammunition to several criminals, for the gangster brothers. He was absconding after the arrest of the brothers in January this year. So far, 33 people have been arrested in connection with their association with the Dhal Samant duo.
