Once accused of attacking Odisha CM Majhi, BJD youth leader now arrested in multi-crore fraud case

Chakra, popularly known as Raja, has previously been accused of orchestrating an attack on Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in 2021, when Majhi was the Opposition Chief Whip. In October 2021, two people on a bike hurled country-made bombs at Majhi’s car while he was returning from a public meeting at his Keonjhar constituency. Chakra also hails from the mineral-rich Keonjhar district.

According to the EOW, while Chakra was not officially associated with the Gandhamardhan Loading Agency and Transporting Co-operative Society, it is allegedly being run as per his wishes through three of his associates. Chakra has founded Sankar Mineral, Shankar Transporting, Shankar Roadways and Sankar Project to run his businesses, said EOW sources.

Crime Branch Director General Vinaytosh Mishra said the probe agency has a clearcut case of financial fraud of Rs 9.1 crore against Chakra and the probe is on to get further details.

“We have so far seized 42 vehicles and two screening plants belonging to Chakra. Several bank accounts of Chakra with deposits of around Rs 25 lakh have been frozen… Further investigation is being done to unearth the involvement of other persons and (bust) the entire racket,” Mishra said.

The case so far

Gandhamardhan Loading Agency was formed in 2006 as a cooperative society by the locals living around the Gandhamardhan mine owned by the state-run Odisha Mining Corporation for mineral loading and transportation. The idea behind the society was to make a profit and spend it for the welfare of the local residents affected by the mines.

Based on a complaint by a local resident in the mines area about large-scale financial irregularities in the cooperative society, the EOW registered a case on February 7.

During the probe, the EOW found that the loading agency had earned around Rs 185 crore from 2017-18 (when mining production witnessed a huge jump) to March 2024.

The investigation revealed that the president and secretary of the society, Manas Barik and Utkal Das, with the help of some other local influential persons, allegedly defrauded huge sums of this money. The EOW arrested both Barik and Das last month.

“In the name of peripheral development, Rs 34 crore was taken from the society, but no peripheral development was done according to the two BDOs in the area. Similarly, Rs 9.1 crore was paid to a petrol pump, which had not supplied any fuel to the loading agency but supplied fuel to the vehicles of Chakra,” said Mishra.

The Crime Branch DG said about Rs 33 crore was distributed to local residents to ensure that they came in support of Chakra. Around Rs 74 crore has been shown as loading charges and labour payment, which is not matched according to the corresponding muster roll and vouchers, it is alleged.