CBI arrests former advocate general of Odisha in Saradha chit fund case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Monday that it had arrested Ashok Mohanty, former advocate general of Odisha in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

A CBI official said that Mohanty had been arrested on “charges of misappropriation of funds” of the Artha Tatwa Group, which is linked to the scam. Mohanty has also been charged with “misuse of position for personal benefit”.

On 14 September, the agency had arrested Manoj Das, chairman and managing director of Kamyab TV, and Madhusudan Mohanty, owner of Oriya newspaper Odisha Bhaskar in the case.

On 9 September, the agency had arrested Bikash Swain, proprietor of Oriya newspaper Suryaprava in the case. The CBI had also arrested Ranjan Kumar Das, a close associate and personal assistant of a Biju Janata Dal MLA (member of the legislative assembly). Das was linked to AT Multi-purpose Co-operative Society Ltd.

On 25 August, the agency had arrested Jyotiprakash Joyprakash, one of the two founder directors of the Artha Tatwa Group. Earlier, on 16 August, the agency had raided the premises of the Artha Tatwa Group, a chit fund.

The now-defunct Saradha Group was one of eastern India’s biggest deposit-taking firms, which went bust in April 2013 after it defaulted on repayments to depositors. The firm allegedly caused an estimated loss of more than ₹ 2,000 crore to 1.7 million small investors, according to a commission set up under the chairmanship of former Allahabad high court chief justice Shyamal Kumar Sen.