Court orders Odisha govt to confiscate seized properties of Seashore Group of Companies

Cuttack: A special court here has ordered the Odisha government to confiscate the seized properties of Seashore Group of Companies. "The amount generated through public auction of the confiscated properties should be equitably distributed among all the investors, who have been duped by the company", the court dealing with cases related to Odisha Protection of Interest of Depositors (Financial Establishments) Act, said on Thursday.

The attached properties include land plots measuring nearly 222 acres, gold ornaments weighing 1.386 kg, silver ornaments of about 200 kg, four luxury cars, and cash Rs 1.88 crore. The court in December 2013 had attached these properties of the Seashore Company and its CMD Prashant Kumar Dash with the additional district magistrate, who was appointed as the competent authority.

The Economic Offence Wing of State crime branch police way back in December 2013 had registered seven cases under the Act against Prashant Dash and 44 others after receiving several complaints from investors of the company. The financial establishment had defaulted in returning the deposits and duped the investors to the tune of Rs 500 crore.

The cases, however, were handed over to the CBI in July 2014 on the order of the Supreme Court. The CBI had arrested Dash from Mumbai in December the same year. But subsequently, Dash got bail from the Orissa High Court in all the seven cases and he was released from jail in July 2017 after the charge sheets were submitted against him in all the cases.