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Opposition targets ruling BJD following raids on houses
of its MP, MLA and other leaders; Pravat offers to resign
PBD BUREAU
CBI searches AT Group’s Kharavel Nagar
office, takes Sambit on 10-day remand
BHUBANESWAR, AUG 17
HILE opposition
Congress
and
BJP today came
down heavily on the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
for allegedly patronising
chit fund business in the
State, especially after CBI
conducted raids on its senior leader and sitting MLA
from
Banki,
Pravat
Tripathy, the latter has
offered to resign from all
party posts including
MLA if his leader and BJD
supremo, Naveen Patnaik
asks him to do so.
“I will resign from the
party and as MLA Banki
also if my leader Naveen
Patnaik asks me to do so,”
said Tripathy when asked if
this raid has not tarnished
the image of the party.
Leader of Opposition
in
OLA,
Narasingha
Mishra
and
senior
Congress
leader,
Lalatendu
Bidyadhar
Mohapatra have lambast-
W
ed ruling party which all
along refuted all allegations about the involvement of BJD leaders in the
multi thousand crore Chit
Fund scam in the State.
“These raids are just
the beginning, time will
tell how many more senior
leaders were involved in
the
scam,”
said
Mohapatra, adding that
this is just the page one of
Not withdrawing
from coalition govt after
Swamiji’s assassination
a great tactical blunder:
Jual Oram
BHUBANESWAR: While paying rich
tributes to Swami Laxmananand
Saraswati, the great Hindu missionary on
his sixth death anniversary, Union
Minister for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram said
continuing with BJD in the coalition ministry after the brutal assassination of
Swamiji in 2008 was the biggest mistake
BJP committed in Odisha where it is still
struggling to make a mark.
With 37 MLAs, we were in a much
stronger position to dictate terms after
Naveen government failed to provide protection to Swamiji who was killed in
Jalespeta ashram along with six of his
associates on Janmastami day in 2008, said
Oram, adding that due to the obstinacy of
some ministers who kept on insisting to
latch on to power with Naveen dispensation then party lost the initiative.
BJP would have gained people’s sympathy if it had severed ties with BJD soon
after the killing, said Oram while remembering the noble work of Swamiji who was
trying relentlessly to reconvert the Hindusturned-Christian in Kandhamal district.
However, Oram who has become a
Union Cabinet Minister for the second
time from Odisha expressed confidence
that his party under the vibrant leadership of Narendra Modi will soon bounce
back to take centre stage in the State.
the big book which, when
unfolded further, will
expose the complicity of
many stalwarts of the ruling party.
LoO,
Narasingha
Mishra said this raid has
only vindicated the allegations we were levelling
against the leaders of the
ruling party for their complicity in the scam. “It was
known to everyone that
Crime Branch of the State
government which was
probing chit fund cases
would never touch ruling
party
leaders,”
said
Mishra, adding that soon
after CBI took over the
investigation one after
another BJD heads are
tumbling out.
BJP
Leader,
B i s w a b h u s a n
Harichandan and party
BHUBANESWAR: CARRYING forward its raids on establishments
and residences of persons having
links with Artha Tatwa group, one
of the 44 chit fund companies operating in the State, the CBI today
searched the office of the group at
Kharavel Nagar here.
The eight member CBI team
today broke open the doors of this
office which remained closed ever
since State police conducted raids
on different establishments of the
group and taken its Managing
Director, Pradip Sethy into custody,
said sources, adding that 31 computers and many incriminating documents pertaining to various transactions of the group were seized
during this search.
AT Group was paying Rs 75000
spokesman Sajan Sharma
also criticised Naveen
Patnaik for shielding his
party leaders who were
directly involved in the
rent per month for this building
from where its office was operating,
said sources.
Meanwhile, the CBI which is
investigating the multi-thousand crore
chit fund scam in the State following
instructions from the apex court, today
confirmed the arrest of Sambit
Khuntia, a former AT Group director
who was taken for interrogation during a search in his native place at
Khordha on Saturday.
Khuntia, a very active member of
the Youth Congress in the State was
evading arrest and not responding to
intimations from State police. CBI has
taken Khuntia on a ten-day remand
for further interrogation after he was
produced before a city court here
today, said sources.
Khuntia, a close confidante of AT
scam. “Instructions were
flowing straight from
Third
Floor
(Chief
Minister’s office at State
Secretariat) to provide
protection to all these
scamsters who were having a field day in the
State,” said Sharma.
BJD has earned quite
CBI probe into Saraswati killing demanded
Naidu Commission
summons Sabyasachi
PBD BUREAU/PTI
BHUBANESWAR/PHULBANI, AUG 17
SIX years after VHP leader
Laxmanananda Saraswati was
gunned down in Odisha's sensitive Kandhamal district, an organisation today demanded a CBI
probe into his killing even as his
followers observed his death
anniversary.
Though six years have passed
since Saraswati and four others
were shot dead at his Jalespata
ashram in Kandhamal, crime
branch of police has been unable
to establish the source of conspiracy behind the crime, speakers at a
meeting
held
by
"Swami
Laxmanananda
Saraswati
Smrutinyas" said.
"It shows that the crime branch
is inefficient and an inquiry by CBI
will help the truth come out," they
said.
Saraswati and four of his disciples were gunned down by
assailants on the Janmastami Day
in 2008 at his Ashram in
Kandhamal district triggering
communal violence.
Organised under chairmanship of Mansukhlal Sethia, the
meeting delved into the issue of
security of saints and demanded
stringent punishment for the culprits behind the assassination of
Saraswati.
Among
others,
Swami
Pranrupanand Saraswati, members Laxmikant Das, Ashok
Kumar Das and former president
of Kui Sanskrutika Parishad
BHUBANESWAR: The Inquiry
Commission headed by Justice
AS Naidu which is probing the
assassination
of
Swami
Laxmanananda Saraswati has
summoned the dreaded Mao
leader Sabyasachi panda to be
present before it on September
5. “A summon has been issued to
Sabyasachi Panda to appear
before the Commission on Sept
5 next”, said Justice Naidu.
Notably, Sabyasachi who has
been nabbed by State police on
July 17 had earlier claimed that
he was in the group of rebels
which swooped on Swamiji’s
Ashram at Jalespeta in 2008 and
killed him along with four of his
associates.
Panda had told to two private Oriya channels in October,
2008 at an undisclosed destination that the Maoists decided to
eliminate Saraswati as he was
'spreading social unrest' in the
tribal-dominated district.
Panda was quoted by the
reporters of the channels saying
Maoists had earlier asked
Saraswati to desist from 'such
works' or face consequences.
"As Saraswati did not pay
heed to our warning, he was
killed," Panda had then told
media persons, adding similar
warnings had also been issued
to 14 other people, mostly
belonging to the Sangh
Parivar in Kandhamal.
Padmanav Pradhan spoke.
Meanwhile, security was tightened at Chakapada and Jalespata
Ashrams in Kandhamal district for
Laxmanananda Saraswati's death
anniversary and Janmastami festival.
As a precautionary step, the
district administration is deploying security personnel at sensitive
pockets including Jalaspeta and
Chakapada ashrams.
No untoward incident was
reported as police personnel in
strength were deployed at
Jalaspeta Ashram was killed and
also Chakapada ashram, SubDivisional Police Officer (SDPO),
Baliguda, S N Murmu said.
Sadhus from different places
joined function on Saraswati's
death anniversary. Rituals like
Sankirtan, Nama Yanja, Ghruta
Yanja were performed.
Niranjan demands Experts brainstorm on HR, Finance issues at XIMB Conclave
custodial interrogation
of chit fund scamsters
PBD BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, AUG 17
PBD BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, AUG 17
SENIOR Congress
leader Niranjan
Patnaik
today
demanded
that
CBI must subject accused
persons in chit fund scam
to custodial interrogation
to expose the larger conspiracy.
Welcoming the CBI
raids to trace money lost
by depositors duped into
investing in chit fund
firms, Patnaik said while
these raids unmask flourishing of chit fund companies under the patronage
of BJD leaders, they can at
best be preliminary steps
in a long and complex
investigation.
"Obviously the scamsters had been anticipating these raids for a long
time and must have
either destroyed records
or recreated documents
to protect them from
criminal liability," said
Patnaik, a former minister and ex-PCC chief.
"I was not
surprised that a
prominent BJD
leader raided by
the CBI is confident that the
investigating
agency
would
have
found
nothing
against me. No one anticipating a CBI raid will
hold on to incriminating
material," Niranjan said in
a statement.
Niranjan said he had
written a letter to the chief
minister on May 8, 2013
alleging that Chit fund
companies
had
been
allowed to function right
under the nose of the government and accorded
"legitimacy by BJD leaders."
People of Odisha
expect a lot from the CBI
despite the delay in
starting a genuine investigation. But, the worry
is CBI actions may turn
out to be too little and
too late unless the scamsters are subjected to
through custodial interrogation, Patnaik said.
TO keep a tab on emerging
trends and issues in Human
Resource Management and
Finance, a national level summit was conducted by the
Xavier
Institute
of
Management, Bhubaneswar
here today.
Agenda for Kshitij 2014,
the Annual National Level
HR
Summit
was
‘HR
Analytics: The Next Frontier
for
Workplace’;
while
Finomics 2014 the National
Level Finance Summit took
up the topic of ‘Impact of
Regulations and Politics on
Indian Financial Markets and
It’s Future Challenges’
The panel discussion for
Kshitij 2014 was started by
Prof. SS Ganesh, XIMB, who
welcomed the speakers and
set the context for the day by
giving a brief speech on Big
Data, the effects of social
media on HR functions, various Matrices on Analytics,
etc. The first person to take
the stage was Subhashini
Acharya, Senior ManagerOD, SABMiller India, who
outlined a brief history of
Data Science in HR and highlighted the importance of
Talent Analytics in bringing
HR and Business Data
together. Ravendra Mishra,
Head-Human
Capital,
Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd,
talked about how HR adds
value to the business by
adopting new trends, aligning HR Strategy and building
capacity in terms of Human
Capital, he also spoke about
how
People
Dimension
affects
Business
Goals.
Chandrashekhar
AB,
Assistant Vice President,
Human Resources, EXL
Services,
explained
the
evolving role of an HR from a
Caretaker to a Partner to
becoming
the
Thought
Leader and explored how
HR Analytics gives business
intelligence. Badrinath AD
from Wipro spoke about the
various
types
of
HR
Analytics and how they are
implemented in the BPO
Industry. He signed off by
saying that Data is available,
but what one makes of the
Data is always a challenge
because one should know
what they are looking for.
The topic of panel discussion for Finomics was Impact
of Regulations and Politics
on Indian Financial Markets
and It’s Future Challenges.
The panel included the
General Manager of Foreign
Exchange Department, RBI,
Himanshu Mohanty who
emphasized that the financial market was an important
condition
for
growth.
Admist much debate surrounding the FII limits in
various markets, the discussions continued with the
other members of panel
including XIMB alumni and
lead Analyst of Duetsche
Group’s head Pradip Sethy, owns
more than 100 acres of land in
Khordha.
The CBI on Saturday conducted
raids at 60 locations including two
each in Mumbai, Berhampur,
Balasore and the remaining 54 in
Bhubaneswar and adjacent areas at
the office and residential premises of
Odisha based AT Group of companies; their directors and other office
bearers and also of those companies /
individuals who had close links with
the said Group, said a CBI release
issued on Saturday.
A case has been registered against
the AT Group of Companies in the
alleged multi-crore chit fund scam on
the directions of Supreme Court of India
and investigation has been taken up by
the SIT of CBI, the release said.
Bank, Srinivas Rao and Parth
Pritam Ghosh, Executive
Vice President-Government
Relationship Management,
Yes Bank. Ghosh emphasized
on the accessibility of microfinancing institutes to the
general public in India and
in the US. Alok Dayal, Senior
Director
Credit
and
Environment risk, IDFC who
spoke next discussed the
importance of the timing in
the market analysis and the
general investment preferences of the Indian market
that constitutes 55 per cent in
financial assets and 45 per
cent in physical assets.
The discussion ended with
an interactive question-answer
round, where the students got
an opportunity interact with
the dignitaries and satisfy
their ever-inquisitive minds.
some flak from these
opposition parties as it
kept on denying the complicity of any of its leaders
in the scam.
State BJP
Rights Cell
alleges political
interference
in dowry
death probe
PBD BUREAU
ATHAGARH/BHUBANESWAR, AUG 17
RAISING the pitch for immediate
arrest of a Sarpanch of the ruling
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for his alleged
complicity in the unnatural death
of a woman, the Human Rights Cell
of BJP’s Odisha unit has demanded
proper probe, free of any political
interference, into this ghastly incident which the family members of
the deceased claim a cold blooded
murder.
“Even as the in-laws of
Chinmayee Rout (Mohanty) claim
her death to be a case of suicide and
the post-mortem report corroborating it, the circumstantial evidence
prima facie establish that by exerting pressure from political leaders
of ruling BJD, how this ghastly
murder has been coloured otherwise”, said BS Mishra, Convenor of
BJP’s Human Rights Cell. The
investigating officers, doctors and
villagers have been terrorized not
to disclose the truth which is nothing other than a cold blooded murder for dowry, said Mishra, adding
that the eerie silence maintained by
the grievance cell of the chief minister, offices of chief secretary, DG,
Police, Addl. DG HRPC, State
Mahila Commission and SP (Rural),
Cuttack over the issue which has
been intimated to them by the
brother of the deceased since May
6, 2014 when she died.
Chinmayee was brutally tortured ever since her marriage to
Sanjay Rout in 2009, said Mishra
citing the petition of her brother
which has been sent to Prime
Minister’s office in New Delhi.
Elaborating further, Mishra
said, even as Chinmayee and
Sanjay were in love with each other,
an amount of Rs1,50,000 along with
gold ornaments including other
dowry items were given to them at
the time of marriage with the promise that the remaining amount Rs
50000 of the total cash demand
would be paid subsequently.
“She was subjected to intolerable physical torture by her husband
and in-laws as her family members
could not pay the remaining
amount”, said Mishra claiming that
she was fatally attacked on May 6.
One of the co-accused,
Jaladhar Rout, who is a Sarpanch
belonging to the ruling BJD and a
very close confidante of the local
MLA, RP Swain is yet to be taken
into custody even as he, according
to family members of Chinmayee,
was one of the witnesses of the
marriage registration between
Chinmayee and Sanjay in 2009
and was closely involved in this
crime, said Mishra, calling upon
the State administration to step in
immediately to thwart this
attempt to hush up the case.

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