Keonjhar: Police on Sunday froze six bank accounts of Champua's Independent MLA Sanatan Mahakud with deposits worth Rs 165 crore in them and made them inoperative under Section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The police were forced to act as they had found substantiated proof of money from the said accounts being diverted towards fermenting law and order problems in the district. All these accounts were in operation from Joda branch of IndusInd Bank, said inspector of Keonjhar Sadar police station Smruti Prava Pradhan.
The bank accounts will remain inoperative till the investigation into the cases against him continues.
The alleged diversion of money from the MLA's bank account for creating lawlessness in various parts of the district had come to light following the seizure of Rs 50 lakh unaccounted cash on January 12. A day later, the manager and two other staff of IndusInd Bank were arrested after they were found transporting the huge sum of cash in a car to the house of one of the state's richest MLAs without any document.
Mahakud was on Saturday asked to appear before the police in connection with the cash seizure episode. However, he did not turn up citing illness.
The seized money was allegedly meant for delivery to an outfit that is spearheading anti-toll cess movement. People's protest at Banajodi toll plaza complex, about seven kilometres from the district headquarters township, has been continuing for the past two months. The agitation has given rise to frequent law and order problems with agitating people frequently disrupting the traffic on the busy highway, said a police officer.
Makakud, widely regarded as one of the richest MLAs in the state, plans to float a new political party shortly.
He had recently announced the formation of a political party - the Jana Samrudha Party.
He also plans to field candidates in all the 147 Assembly constituencies in the next Assembly polls.
Mahakud, a union leader who later moved into the business of transporting ore, had successfully contested the Assembly polls trouncing the BJD candidate from Champua Assembly seat in 2014.
