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Bhubaneswar, Dec. 18: Pratap Kishore Bhanja from Dhenkanal paid Rs. 2.10 lakh to become the franchisee owner of a Delhi-based NGO, which provides free education to children and youths. However, he lost all his money. The NGO, Bapuji Educational and Charitable Trust, took the entire sum.
The cheques sent to Bhanja as support money bounced.
This happened last year when the NGO reportedly cheated several other people. The organisation’s Bhubaneswar branch is named after the late Biju Patnaik.
When the NGO was organising a function at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here this morning, the victims reached there with Khandagiri police with whom they had lodged a case of cheating against the NGO last year. Seeing the police raid the venue, the organisers fled the spot.
Sisir Patel, a victim from Sundergarh, said he had paid Rs 1,55,000 to get the franchise of the NGO to provide free education in his district. However, after he paid the money, the organisation did not respond.
Like Patel, many others have filed cheque bounce cases in different courts in the state against the NGO. “While our cases are still going on in the court, we found that the organisation had given advertisements to local papers seeking people to open franchises. So we decided to oppose their activities,” said Patel.
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