Bhubaneswar, July 7: Police today arrested Ranjan Das, the chief of deposit collection company Swastik India Multi State Credit Cooperative, for allegedly attacking and threatening a photographer of a vernacular newspaper here today.

Das was already on bail in a CBI case against him for his links with another money deposit collection company, Artha Tatwa (AT) Group.

The victim, Jitendra Mohanty, was taking photographs outside the residence of Das when he was attacked.

"I was clicking photographs in front of his residence when he, along with two of his henchmen, dragged me inside the house and hit me with iron rods. They also pointed a pistol at me and threatened me with dire consequences if the photographs were published in any newspaper," said Mohanty.

Later, Badagad police rushed to the spot and rescued Mohanty. "We have arrested Das for assaulting the photographer. We are also trying to nab the other two accused involved in the assault. We will examine the CCTV footage of Das's residence for investigation," said deputy commissioner of police, Satyabrata Bhoi.

The CBI today also conducted raids at 13 locations in the state in connection with alleged money laundering by his company. Das's residence in Bhubaneswar was also raided.

The central agency today conducted simultaneous raids against the office-bearers of the company in Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda. The subsidiary of the company Swastik Urban Resources Pvt Ltd was also raided.

Sources said Das was involved in the affairs of Artha Tatwa Group but later got separated and floated Swastik India along with some former AT Group employees in 2011.

Swastik India illegally raised crores from investors through several schemes such as fixed deposits, recurring deposits, retirement deposits and regular income scheme.

Sources said the company was promising interest rates ranging between 9 per cent and 15 per cent on these schemes. In 2013, Sundargarh and Bargarh police had registered two cases of cheating against the company.

Das was earlier arrested by the CBI in September last year for his alleged links with AT Group, one of the major players in the money deposit scam. Das however, was granted bail by the high court in January this year on health grounds.

The preliminary chargesheet of CBI against AT Group had indicted Das a close associate of BJD legislator from Banki, Pravat Tripathy. Das had received Rs 25.5 lakh from the AT Group. Besides, the charge sheet also mentioned that Das, along with Tripathy, had played a vital role in the registration of the cooperative society of the AT Group.