Bhubaneswar, May 21: The Enforcement Directorate today attached properties worth Rs 84 crore of the Artha Tatwa group, one of the major players in the money deposit collection scam.

The attachment included immovable properties such as 100 acres of land in Bhubaneswar, Chatrapur in Ganjam district, Angul, Jagatsinghpur and Khurda.

The ED has also attached a flat belonging to the group in Bhubaneswar. The group's Rs 2.37 crore deposited in several banks in the state has also been seized.

Besides, company shares worth Rs 2.75 crore in the names of company directors Pradeep Sethy, Sambit Kumar Khuntia and Srikrushna Padhi too were seized.

Official sources said that these shares were procured by a Mumbai-based trading firm. Earlier in April, the Enforcement Directorate had taken both Padhi and Khuntia in remand to trace the money trail.

The group has allegedly swindled around Rs 1,200 crore from thousands of investors across the state.

Earlier, the commissionerate police, which was probing the financial irregularities of the group, had submitted three interim proposals with the state government for attachment of its assets.

The assets were worth Rs 480 crore, which included 32 flats in Calcutta.

In another development the Economic Offences Wing of state Crime Branch today arrested one of the directors of Vista Management Services Limited, a money deposit collection company, which allegedly duped investors around Rs 50 crore.

The arrest of one of the director of the comapny Bijay Swain followed the arrest of the managing director of the company Dev Kumar Panda on May 17.

He was arrested while trying to flee to Singapore.

The Economic Offences Wing officials are also conducting raids at several locations in Balangir and Bhawanipatna to gather more evidence of the fraud.

Poacher held

A joint squad of the crime branch and Narsinghpur police today arrested Eja Miyan, 42, a notorious poacher involved in a series of elephant killing cases in different parts of the state.

Eja Miyan, who was nabbed in the early hours from his village at Narsinghpur, was wanted by police for his alleged involvement in at least seven elephant poaching cases.

B.K. Sharma, additional director-general of police (Crime Branch), said the accused was also wanted in connection with the elephant poaching case in Satkosia reserve in 2013.

The crime branch is investigating the case.

"Eja Miyan is a prize catch because he had unleashed terror and a number of warrants were pending against him," said Sharma.

Sharma said Eja was involved in elephant poaching in the entire belt of Narsin-ghpur, Satkosia reserve, Daspalla forest reserve and the forest area from Angul to Phulbani.

He has been booked under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and will be soon brought on remand for further interrogation.