Bhubaneswar: Chickens are coming home to roost for Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders following their ouster from power. The Economic Offence Wing of Crime Branch on Monday grilled BJD leader Raja Chakra for his alleged involvement with office-bearers of Gandhamardan Loading Agency and Transporting Cooperative Society limited in connection with misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 35 crore.
The EOW had arrested former president Manas Ranjan Barik and secretary Utkal Das of Gandhamardan Agency, which is engaged in loading iron ore from the mines of Odisha Mining Corporation for their alleged role in the scam. They were arrested last month. Chakra was reportedly close to BJD strongman Pranab Prakash Das aka Bobby and IAS officer-turned-politician VK Pandian. There are allegations that he enjoyed their blessings.
The Gandhamardan agency was registered in 2006 and engaged in loading of iron ore from the mines in Keonjhar district. Investigation revealed that the operations of the society were monopolised by a handful of influential outsiders who entered into a conspiracy with the office-bearers to misappropriate crores of rupees between 2017 and 2024.
The accused reportedly forged documents pertaining to labour costs, employment provident fund deductions, money spent towards peripheral developmental activities, infrastructural expenses and payments made to the people affected in the mining area. According to EOW sources, a preliminary probe suggests Raja Chakra was one of the beneficiaries of the fraud. It is believed to be a massive scam and requires a thorough probe by agencies like the Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate.
Chakra, a local BJD leader in Keonjhar, is no stranger to controversies. In October 2021 a senior BJP leader had alleged that Chakra was behind the attack when two bike-borne miscreants had hurled country-made bombs at his car while he was returning from a public meeting in the district.
According to latest reports, the EOW carried out simultaneous raids at six locations linked to Raja Chakra in Keonjhar, Koida, Dhamra, and Gopalpur on Wednesday. It is reported to have seized 200 ‘benami’ accounts and 20 vehicles reportedly belonging to the BJD leader.
Raja Chakra, formally known as Soumyashankar Chakra, was interrogated for 11 hours. The transport society reportedly charged abnormally high rates for loading iron ores and kept on increasing the prices without authorisation. It is also accused of showing money allegedly sent to several individuals as expenses borne by the company.
The matter came to light when a whistleblower alerted the EOW that the transport agency earned illicit gains running into several crores of rupees after filing false transactions. Chakra has also been allegedly involved in tender fixing and he ran his empire with the blessings of senior BJD leaders. “ There is a lot of corruption in the Gandhamardan agency and Chakra has also been involved in other kinds of corruption. It is time to probe the charges against him,” said a senior BJP leader.
