200 crore to topple the Naveen Pattnaik government
Sambalpur vigilance team raided Hotel Radhika Regency here on Monday evening in the wake of allegations by Keonjhar MLA Subarna Naik that some BJD leaders and mineral traders had met there on May 26 to raise Rs 200 crore to topple the Naveen Pattnaik government.
The raid came hours after chief minister Naveen Patnaik dismissed Sarada Nayak from his ministry. The Keonjhar MLA had on Sunday told TOI that Sarada Nayak, who is the Rourkela MLA, had attended the May 26 meeting at Hotel Radhika Regency to raise funds from different business houses, mainly in Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts, for the alleged coup.
A senior vigilance officer confirmed that a raid started around 9 pm and will continue till late night. “We have just arrived and starting probing various allegations,” said deputy superintendent of police, vigilance, P K Das. Sources said, a team from Sambalpur vigilance led by SP (vigilance) M R Panda, was conducting the raid.
Vigilance sleuths said they were conducting the raid because of allegations that it had evaded sales tax dues and denied that the raid was related to Naik’s allegations and had a political undertone to it.
The hotel authorities, on the other hand, denied allegations of any such meeting on May 26. “No such meeting took place in our hotel,” said Arun Dua, the hotel owner. “We came to know about this allegation from the media and have no clue about this meeting,” he added. Vigilance sleuths are also raiding other business establishments of Dua.
IIM Sambalpur
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