BJD leader Raja Chakra held in mining scam

Bhubaneswar : The Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Thursday arrested Biju Yuva Janata Dal State vice-president Soumya Shankar Chakra, alias Raja Chakra, in connection with an alleged multi-crore mining and transport scam. The Orissa High Court had on Wednesday rejected Chakra’s plea seeking interim protection from arrest.

Additional DGP, CID, Crime Branch, Vinaytosh Mishra said Chakra was interrogated and asked to clarify his role in the scam and then he was arrested.

The Economic Offence Wing of the Crime Branch had earlier in February registered a case based on a complaint of alleged irregularities in the functioning of Gandhamardan Loading (GML) Agency and a transporting cooperative society limited and misappropriation of funds of the cooperative society in the mineral-rich Keonjhar district.

The cooperative society has been created for the welfare of villagers affected by the mining activities. “In the course of the investigation, it was found that the loading agency had earned around Rs 185 crore from 2017-18 to March 2024. The investigation also revealed that the cooperative society president and secretary, with the help of some other local influential persons, had defrauded huge sums,” the ADGP said. Though Rs 34 crore was taken in the name of peripheral development, no work was done, he added.

Similarly, Rs 9.1 crore was taken away and paid to a petrol pump, which had not supplied any fuel to GML, rather, it was supplying fuel to the vehicles of one Soumya Shankar Chakra, whose payment was being done by GML, an official note said.

The investigation also revealed that about Rs 33 crore was distributed to local villagers who are supposed to be members of cooperative society. “It was further found that around Rs 74 crore has been shown as loading charges and labour payments. The corresponding muster roll and vouchers indicate a huge mismatch.

It has been decided to get the period audited after which detailed defalcation would be known. It is to further inform that the society has not conducted audit since 2012 and 2013,” an official statement of the Crime Branch said.

It also said that though Chakra was not associated with the society on paper, he was dictating terms through his henchmen Sadashiv Samal, Sudhansu Shekhar Naik and Samir Jena.

“So far, the CB has seized 42 vehicles belonging to Raja Chakra,” the statement said. Based on financial investigation, several bank accounts have been frozen, it added.