Former BJD chief whip and party MLA Pravat Tripathy was arrested by the CBI on Friday in connection with the multi-crore chit fund scam on charges of hatching a criminal conspiracy with ponzi firm Artha Tatwa.
Tripathy, grilled in the case for the fifth time on Friday, was arrested by the agency soon after the interrogation. He is likely to be produced in a CBI court on Saturday.
Soon after his arrest, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik suspended him from the party.
Tripathy became the 14th person to be arrested by CBI in the chit fund scam. Others who have been arrested include former advocate general Ashok Mohanty and Mumbai-based model Preeti Bhatia.
On October 20, the Orissa High Court had rejected Tripathy’s anticipatory bail application after the CBI argued that granting him bail would harm the case as the money trail had yet to be established. CBI sources said he played a crucial role in the scam.
Tripathy, during his tenure as president of Orissa State Cooperative Union, a government-sponsored apex cooperative society, had recommended Artha Tatwa’s chief Pradeep Sethy’ for the award of “Best Youth Cooperator” in 2010. Sethy won the award within a fortnight of him starting the Artha Tatwa Multipurpose Cooperative Society. The award helped him collect money from investors in rural and urban Orissa. Sethy has now been in jail for more than a year.
Following Tripathy’s arrest, a few more leaders may face the heat. BJD MP Ramchandra Hansda, ex-BJD MLA Subarna Nayak and ex-BJP MLA Hitesh Bagarti were interrogated earlier this week for the the second time in Nabadiganta chit fund scam. The three were directors of the firm.
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