Chit fund scam casts shadow over Odisha journalists

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Nov 21: The mega chit fund scam in Odisha has cast a shadow over the media in the State with the Central Bureau of Investigation conducting raids at the houses of a senior journalist here on Thursday.The houses of journalist Lalit Pattajoshi were raided simultaneously in the wake of the arrest of city-based broker Subhankar Nayak.Several incriminating documents were reportedly seized from Pattajoshi’s houses, according to sources.Nayak was arrested on November 18 for his alleged links with the Seashore Group.The chairman-cum-managing director of the Group, Prashant Dash, also owned a television channel which was closed down after the unearthing of the Ponzi scam.Both Nayak and Dash are in CBI custody at present.Earlier, the CBI had arrested Madhu Mohanty, owner of an Odia daily, Bikash Swain, owner of another Odia daily, and Manoj Das, owner of a news channel.The three are in judicial custody after they were arrested for their alleged links with the Artha Tatwa Group, which is also involved in the Ponzi scam.More journalists of the State were likely to come under the CBI scanner in the coming days as many more chit fund scam related cases were still pending investigation.