Bhubaneswar, June 1: Odisha Cricket Association secretary Ashirbad Behera and Odisha Jan Morcha general secretary Jagneswar are among the 22 persons who have been asked to appear before police on Tuesday and Wednesday for questioning on the deposit collection scam that has hit the state.
The list of people summoned include businessmen involved in real estate and at least three media personalities. The Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police have asked them to go to Kharavela Nagar police station on Tuesday and Wednesday, where cases have been registered against the Artha Tatwa group, a deposit collection company.
“We have issued notices to 22 persons and we will interrogate them on June 4 and 5 to find out their role in the scam,” said assistant commissioner of police Pradeep Patnaik. Police sources said the list was prepared after interrogating Pradeep Sethi, chairman-cum-managing director of the Artha Tatwa group, who was arrested on May 12 and was in police remand.
OCA general secretary Ashirbad Behera told The Telegraph that the Artha Tatwa group had sponsored the Ranji trophy in 2010-11 and was the main sponsor of the first edition of the Odisha Premier League (OPL).
“How will we know about his complicity in collecting funds from investors?” Behera said.
Sources said the group had sponsored a sum of Rs 25 lakh for the OPL. Apart from this, the group was also the sponsor of various cricket teams of the state including Ranji and under-16. The group has given a sum of Rs 75 lakh in three phases. It had sponsored the tour of the Odisha senior cricket team to Australia.
Behera said he was yet to receive the notice. “We have all the legal documents of each of the financial transactions with the group. I will appear with all legitimate documents once I get the notice,” he said.
Odisha Jan Morcha general secretary Jagneswar Babu had walked out of the BJD to join Pyari Mohan Mohapatra’s Odisha Jan Morcha. He was subsequently arrested and is now in jail for allegedly mismanaging funds meant for a co-operative society, of which he was an office bearer.
