The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police raided the office of Oriya daily ‘Sambad’ of senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik. According to an official statement, after the investigation unit registered a case under sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other relevant sections, different teams of the EOW conducted raids and seized several important Documents confiscated. Odia daily ‘Sambad’ said in a statement that it cooperated fully with the law enforcement agency in the investigation. The newspaper termed the entire incident as an act of political vendetta and an attack on the freedom of the press. The ruling BJD in Odisha removed Soumya Ranjan Patnaik from the post of party vice president on September 12 over some editorial articles (on August 8 and August 27) written by him and statements made on television channels regarding the increase in influence of the government and bureaucracy. Was. The matter came to light following allegations that employees of Odia daily ‘Sambad’ were forced to take loans through threats.
what the officials said
The official statement said that the loan amount worth crores of rupees was not given to the employees, but was allegedly used by their employer company ‘Eastern Media Limited Bhubaneswar’. A case was registered against Baijayanti Kar (HR Manager), Soumya Ranjan Patnaik (Editor) and others on September 16 this year following a complaint by Aseem Mohapatra, a former employee of Sambad/Eastern Media Limited, Bhubaneswar.
What is the whole controversy
In his complaint, the MLA has made serious allegations of bank loan fraud including fraud, forgery and criminal intimidation. Officials said the accused had allegedly forced Mohapatra to sign forms related to bank loans against his will and ability to pay. The former employee said that he later learned that a loan of Rs five lakh was taken in his name, but it was actually used by Sambad/Eastern Media Limited, Bhubaneswar. According to the EOW statement, the employees did not receive even a single penny from the loan amount. He was forced to sign for such loans on two different occasions in two different banks. EOW said that some important witnesses were questioned during the investigation. He said that during the search in Sambad’s office many objectionable documents were recovered. So far, 15-20 former employees of Sambad have come forward with complaints of forcibly taking loans in their names using forged documents.