Bhubaneswar: CBI named BJD MLA Pravat Biswal and his better half in the second chargesheet filed here Saturday in Seashore ponzi scam. Apart from the Biswal couple, three others were also accused of extending undue favours to the fraudulent Seashore group of companies.
Pravat, the Cuttack-Choudwar MLA abetted Seashore to expand its business network throughout his constituency, including Jagatpur area in lieu of financial benefits, according to the charges. His wife, Laxmibilashini Biswal, had allegedly worked as the link between the company and Biswal.
Earlier, the couple was grilled several times by the CBI sleuths in relation to a land deal involving Seashore CMD Prashant Das. Biswal has been in CBI custody since September 2017. The 100-page charge sheet also implicated ex-OAS officer Pradeep Hota, his wife Pratima Hota, and an employee of the accused company.
Pradeep Hota during his tenure as the managing director of the state owned Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation Limited (APICOL) from 2008 to 2017, unduly helped the scam-tainted company. CBI quizzed him for the transfer of 19.70 lakhs into his joint account by Seashore Company in October, 2017. CBI registered a case against all the five accused persons under section 420,120(B).CBI named 60 persons as witnesses in the case.
PNN