Media Company and Ex-MLA of Odisha’s Assets Attached in Ponzi Case

In a money laundering investigation against the Odisha-based Seashore Group of enterprises suspected of committing an alleged ponzi fraud, the Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth more than 3.92 crore of a former BJD MLA and a media company, officials said on Saturday.

In a statement, the central agency claimed that a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had been issued to seize Pravat Biswal’s bank deposits worth 25 lakh, which were kept at the SBI Cuttack branch and belonged to the three-time former MLA from the Cuttack-Choudwar assembly seat in Odisha.

In this case, the CBI detained Mr. Biswal in 2017. Later, bail was granted to him.

A Media Guru Consultants Pvt. immovable property was also attached by the agency. In Noida, Ltd.

The linked assets are worth a total of 3,92,20,000, according to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

According to the complaint, the Seashore Group of Companies “fraudulently and dishonestly collected huge sums from the general public, of which 25 lakh was diverted to the ex-MLA and his family members and 4 crore was diverted to Media Guru Consultants Pvt Ltd to set up a news and current affairs TV channel named STV Samachar.”

The CBI and the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police filed FIRs and chargesheets against the Seashore Group and its proprietors, which led to the money laundering case.

The ED described this as a “ponzi scheme case” where deposits were fraudulently obtained from the public under the guise of issuing preferential shares by registering the depositors as members of cooperative organisations.

According to the agency, “These businesses were not listed at the National Stock Exchange nor registered as non-banking finance companies (NBFC) with the RBI and as such were not authorised to receive such public deposits.”

The document claimed that despite the depositors’ repeated requests and approaches, the accused companies abruptly stopped operating, refused to restore money to depositors after maturity, and failed to pay any interest on the accounts.

In this case, the ED already attached assets totaling 258 crore.