Bhubaneswar, June 22: Crime branch, which is probing into Pravas Rout's Oscar Group of Companies' alleged financial irregularities, has found a diamond polishing unit operating in an office that belonged to the firm in Surat, Gujarat.
"The branch office was functional till February. It was shut down once in February, but in March a middleman sold the office to the diamond firm. We have also come to know that several properties of the Ponzi firm in Gujarat were being sold using forged documents," said an official of the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of state crime branch.
Investigations so far have revealed that the group had 49 and 58 branch offices in Odisha and Gujarat, respectively.
The company had also opened six branches in Maharashtra. The company had allegedly collected more than Rs 100 crore through its branch offices in Gujarat.
In a related development, a group of activists today lodged a complaint against the Ponzi firm at Gosani Nuagaon police station in Berhampur.
They alleged that the duped investors from Maharashtra were being threatened by employees and office-bearers of the company. Police said that they had received a complaint and were looking in to the matter.
On June 16, about 15 gullible investors from Gujarat and Maharashtra duped by the Oscar Group had alleged that several Odia actors, including Uttam Mohanty and popular comedian and BJD leader Tatwa Prakash Satpathy aka Pappu Pom Pom, had persuaded them to invest in the Ponzi firm through stage shows held in Surat.
HC grants bail
Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Sulekh Sahu and Yuga Prakash Kanungo, who were arrested for alleged links with gangster siblings Sushant and Sushil Dhal Samant. The single judge bench of Justice J.P. Das gave bail to both on bonds of Rs 50,000 each.
Sex racket busted
A sex racket was busted at Bomikhal on Wednesday. Four persons, including the owner of a hotel, were arrested. During the raid, cops also rescued a girl. Hotel owner Jyoti Nayak was operating the sex racket in the hotel-cum-restaurant for the past few months. Those arrested were identified as Sanjay Khatua, Sanjay Singh and Ramachandra Mallik.
