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THE TIMES OF INDIA

CBI arrests ex-IAS officer in Odisha in SeashoreGroup chit fund scamDebabrata Mohapatra| TNN | Oct 11, 2017, 19:55 IST

BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) here on Wednesdayarrested a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer for his alleged involvement in Seashore Group chit fund scam. The significant headway came close on heels of September 19 arrest of BJD MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal for his alleged complicity in the scam.

CBI said the retired IAS officer, identified as Pradeep Kumar Hota, allegedly availed financial benefit from Seashore Group to extend undue favour to the sham firm. Hota had allegedly received nearly Rs 19.70 lakh from Seashore Group during his tenure as managing director of state-owned Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited (Apicol). Seashore hadapplied near Apicol to set up a maize processing plant at Papadahandi in Nabarangpur district in 2009-2010.

"We picked him up from his house on Tuesday late night. Owing to his illness he was admitted to SCB medical college and hospital in Cuttack. We informed the court of special chief judicial magistrate (CBI) here about his arrest and subsequent admission to hospital," said a CBI officer.

Hota's arrest left the state government red-faced as several departments like tourism, health and agriculture had awarded a number of projects to Seashore Group to execute in private public partnership mode. Names of a number of bureaucrats, police officers and politicians have been doing the rounds since CBI seized four diaries from Seashore conduit Subhankar Nayak in 2014. In the diaries, Nayak had mentioned names of some government officers, who were benefited by Seashore Group to support the money laundering business. Hota isthe first ex-bureaucrat landing in CBI net in the scam, sparking speculation that some more government servants are likely to feel the heat soon.

CBI said a family member of Hota is also under their scanner. In December 2014, CBI had interrogated Hota and one of his family members here. CBI said one of his family members used to look after travel trade of Seashore Group. Apart from Hota, family of Apicol's former chairman Balakrushna Rath too had come under CBI glare. Rath had died in a road accident in 2012. On November 18, 2014, a CBI team interrogated widow of Rath at Titlagarh.

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