File picture of duped investors protesting in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 30: Police have so far confiscated Rs 127.45 crore deposited in various banks by sham deposit collection companies that have cheated more than 20 lakh people in the state.

On non-banking companies, finance minister Prasanna Acharya said: “The police have also seized Rs 86.19 lakh from them. Besides, they have seized 103.8kg silver, 217.5 grams gold and 22 cars. We have so far registered 431 cases related to the fraud from 2000 to July 2013.”

The state government said the police had also seized two farm houses, five industries, three rice and flour mills, three buildings and four branch offices.

“The state government agencies have confiscated 446.457 acres under the possession of various deposit collection companies. The land value has not been estimated. The sub-registrars have been asked to look into the issue,” said an official of the finance department.

The state government admitted that the default scam amounted to Rs 4,375 crore. Nearly 6.89 lakh investors have been cheated. In its report, the government said 280 cases had been lodged against 127 companies and 315 people had been arrested.

“We are now investigating where the money has gone… Owners of the most of the companies have frittered away the money in merry-making,” said a senior police official.

In another development, the Justice R.K. Patra Commission, which is inquiring into the scam, has so far received nearly 50,000 complaints from the investors. “We are hopeful that we will get justice,” said Baman Prasad Das, an investor.

However, the state government has maintained that it would not hand over the cases of fraud related to the money deposit collection cases to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office under the ministry of corporate affairs.

Congress leader and MLA from Satyabadi Prasad Harichandan said the scam had begun in June 2002 when the government had formulated laws to give autonomy to the self-help co-operatives, as a result of which, a large number of co-operatives mushroomed. “Even though the registrar of co-operative societies had warned the government on the issue, the government did not pay any heed,” he said, adding that the RBI had also cautioned the government.

Harichandan said investigation into the activities of the money deposit collection companies were a mere eyewash.

“Though the police questioned Artha Tatwa group’s chief Pradeep Sethy thrice, they did not question him about the political beneficiaries. Similarly, it gagged Sea Shore Company chief Prashant Dash when he wanted make some important revelations to the media at the airport,” Sethy said.