The Orissa High Court on Monday rejected the prayers of former Baleswar BJD MP Rabindra Jena and refused to quash the FIR and charge-sheet of the CBI in which Jena’s name has figured in the multi-crore Seashore chit fund scam. Jena had approached the High Court in February last year for an order to delete his name from the FIR and the charge-sheet.
Adjudicating the miscellaneous criminal petition Justice BP Routray had concluded the hearing on December 12 last year and reserved the verdict. Delivering the judgment on the day, Justice Routray relied upon the arguments made by the CBI advocate that Jena and several other political leaders had taken money from the Seashore Group chief Prashant Dash to provide him political patronage.
The CBI probe team has alleged that Rs 1.75 crore was transferred to Jena’s personal account from the Seashore Group. The CBI advocate further argued that the transferred amount was not a loan as Jena was not authorised to receive any loans from the Seashore Group. Moreover, no relevant documents were available to show that a loan was granted to Jena for his business.
Notably, Jena was earlier arrested by the CBI in relation to this case and the High Court granted him bail. Monday’s judgment of the curt came as a setback to him as the CBI case against him will proceed as per law.
