Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: A former employee of Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), Talcher, lost more than Rs 12 lakh after he was lured by one of his friends to invest in a company in which the latter is a partner.
Dharanidhar Mohanty had been assured of high returns on his investment. He was told that if he did not get back his money he would be given a plot of land in the capital.
Mohanty, who took voluntary retirement from FCI in 2003, said he had invested all his income in his friend Biswanath Behera’s company. However, he said that all the money was lost.
He is not the only victim of such fraud. Fifty other former employees of FCI also told the same story. They complained that they had been cheated of cash worth around Rs 3.75 crore. To add to their woes, they complained that the city police were not taking any steps either to recover their money or book the fraud.
“We had saved the money by serving the government for nearly 30 years and have lost it to a fraudster. This was our hard-earned money. We cannot even fight with the fraudster to get back our money. We tried through the police, but to no avail,” said the employees, who are all in their late 50s or early 60s.
Another employee, Rabindra Nath Mohapatra, said that from 2003 to 2009, he along with his family members and friends had invested more than Rs 20 lakhs in this company. “However, getting our back now seems to be a distant dream,” said Mohapatra. The former employees said that after the corporation was closed in 2003, they all retired under voluntary separation scheme. At that time, Biswanath Behera, who was also an employee of that company, lured them into investing in a business venture in which he was a managing partner. His company was dealing with fast moving consumer goods, real estate business and agriculture and other allied business, with its office at Mancheswar Industrial Estate. As Behera was a managing partner, they easily believed him and invested money at different phases in his company. However, in 2009, when the money these employees deposited in the post office matured, they again invested in the same company.
“He had made deals with us separately. In 2009, we found that he had taken Rs 2.5 crore from us. Then he did not pay us interest or return our money despite several attempts to persuade him,” said Mohapatra, adding that they were paid in Karnataka bank cheques in case of failure of payment of interest to them. However, the cheques bounced, as there was insufficient fund in the account.
These victims later went to Mancheswar police station to lodge a complaint. As police did not receive their complaint, they went to meet with the commissioner of police in his office on April 18. However, they could not meet him and officials in the grievance cell assured them that steps would be taken.
“We even gave another letter in August to remind the police about their assurance to take action against the fraudster. But action is yet to be taken, though we see Behera roaming in the city freely,” said the employees. However, some of the employees have filed cheque bounce cases in the court.
Talking to the media today, they demanded police action against the fraudster and return of their money.
