Bhubaneswar, May 17: Crime branch arrested the managing director of a deposit collection firm that had duped investors of more than Rs 30 crore in west Odisha.

Sleuths of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) nabbed the accused, Dev Kumar Panda, 33, from Bhubaneswar railway station while he was about to leave for Vizag by the Bhubaneswar Tirupati Express.

The police have seized Panda's passport, which carried visa for Singapore, air tickets, confirmation receipt of a Singapore-based hotel and foreign currencies.

"We have been trying to nab him and had raided several locations in the recent past. He was trying to escape from the country to evade arrest," said an EOW official.

Panda, a native of Kalahandi district, was supposed to leave for Singapore from Chennai.

He has been on the run since April 23 this year after complaints were lodged against him by a few investors of west Odisha.

Rajendra Pattnaik, superintendent of police, EOW, said: "The accused will be forwarded to a court in Cuttack. We are verifying involvement of other office bearers of the fraudulent company."

The police said he had started the deposit collection firm in 2008-2009 with its corporate office on Cuttack Road in Bhubaneswar.

He had allegedly duped investors of Rs 50 crore by floating various schemes promising heavy returns on the deposited money.

The company collected investments through schemes, including share certificates, monthly income plans and fixed deposit schemes. The bulk of investments have come from districts in west Odisha and Kalahandi. The investors have also demanded arrest of four other directors of the firm.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narasingha Mishra, who represents Balangir assembly constituency, today alleged that the accused enjoyed political patronage.

At a press conference on April 11, Mishra had shown a photograph showing two ruling party leaders in the company of office-bearers of the firm. He had demanded an immediate probe into the involvement of politicians in the fraudulent company.