Bhubaneswar: CBI sleuths today conducted raids across 14 locations against Micro Finance Limited, one of the 44 chit fund companies under the scanner of the central investigating agency.
A senior CBI official said raids were conducted at all the places where the company was operating its business and has offices, including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.
“In the Odisha chit fund scam, CBI conducted searches at 14 places against Micro Finance Ltd at the residential premises of its former Managing Director Durga Prasad Mishra, Director Ashok Patnaik and other directors of the company,” the official said.
The official said the team also raided the Kharavela Nagar house of Ajay Swain, former Personal Assistant of Commissioner-cum-secretary of Panchayati Raj department, the Saheed Nagar residence of Suratha Das, one of the Directors of Microfinance Ltd, and the residence of a retired IAS officer in Bhubaneswar.
Das, who is also editor of a weekly newspaper, said “I have never been to the office of the company and have not been involved in any of the dealings and transactions of the company.”
Rejecting the allegations that he had benefitted financially from the company, Das claimed that he was invited to become a director of the company and not to participate in any transaction. “However, after reports of irregularities by the company came to fore, I tendered my resignation,” he added.
This was the second raid by CBI's SIT at Microfinance Ltd offices in recent times.
