Chit fund scam exposes murky side of chess Odisha

By staging plethora of tournaments and fetching national and international medals every year, chess may have become a matter of envy for other games in Odisha. But the resurface of its murky sides at a tense press conference here today did a lot of damage to the the reputation of the sport in the state.

The issue centred around the alleged involvement of WGM Padmini Rout’s father Dr Ashok Rout in the chit fund scam, which led to Star Consultancy Services (SCS), a city-based investment company, looting people`s hard-earned savings, worth more than Rs 100 crore, including Rs 10 crore from chess players, their parents, sports enthusiasts and even mediamen.

Headed by its MD Triveni Momay, SCS lured investors by being the title sponsor of 1st SCS International Open GM Chess Tournament here, which proved to be a grand success in 2009. For the record, the success of the tournament helped an ad-hoc state governing body for game, which later helped All Odisha Chess Association (AOCA) take administrative control with the recognition of All India Chess Federation, overpowering the previous body (Orissa State Chess Association).

SCS promised to give back double the amount of investment in three years, only to fool them all. Since then SCS head Mohanty has been absconding, leaving investors, especially chess fraternity in a shambles.

Surprisingly, the state crime branch, which was probing the SCS scam, seemed to have consigned the matter to the cold store. It is also alleged that a top official of crime branch has been helping Mohanty stay abscond after taking a flat as bribe. To everybody`s astonishment, the SCS scam has not come under the radar of CBI, which has been probing offences of around 40 chit fund companies in the state and has put behind bars many offenders, including political leaders.

It is alleged that Padmini`s father persuaded chess fraternity to invest in SCS. Debasish Das, the first Grand Master of the state, WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty, young talents Utkal Ranjan Sahoo, Sidhant Mohapatra, eminent coach and AOCA president Sekhar Chandra Sahoo, secretary Vivek Tibarewal were among large number of people who invested their savings, hoping to be financially stable or richer. Now they all are repenting in silence and blaming Dr Rout for their plight.

In the press conference, Dr Rout was bombarded with questions related to his role in the SCS scam. Even though Padmini had no involvement in it, she too was not spared. She was even asked to comment on her alleged fixing of match in the 2nd SCS International Open GM Chess Tournament, where she became eligible for the WGM title.

Padmini was in tears after the press conference, but she and her father politely refuted the allegations. ``The allegation of match-fixing is news to me. I have always played according to the spirit of the sport. I have no idea how such allegation came up. My father is also not responsible in the chit fund scam,`` said Padmini.

``My family has suffered a lot in this episode. We too invested all our saving, which is around Rs 20 lakh. People paid the money to SCS and I was not a stake holder in the company. I have not been named as an offender by the investigating agency. Like all the investors, I too want my get back my money,`` said Dr Rout.
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PHOTO: Padmini Rout (L), coach S R Patnaik and Dr Ashok Rout (R) at the press conference in Bhubaneswar on Nov 12, 2014.