Investors of Sai Pragati Assets and Properties Private Limited and S-virgin at a news conference at Red Cross Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 18: People duped by a city-based real estate firm today demanded a crime branch probe into its activities. They also urged the government to ensure that the money they had paid to the owners of the company was refunded.

Around 200 victims allegedly cheated by Sai Pragati Assets and Properties Private Limited today gathered at the Red Cross Bhavan here and alleged before mediapersons that the company had fraudulently sold them land belonging to the Puri Jagannath temple.

The mutation of this land in favour of them was legally not possible. The company with its office in Bapuji Nagar is alleged to have cheated more than 10,000 people of around Rs 500 crore.

“We have lodged complaints with the police and even helped them in nabbing the accused. We even held a demonstration in front of the state Assembly but the government did not pay any attention. If this time the government and the police do not take any action against the fraudsters, we will be forced to commit suicide,” one of the victims said.

The victims alleged the company officials have been roaming free in the city but the police were not arresting them. They said that one of the directors of the company is producing an Odia film, using the investor’s money.

“We suspect the role of influential people which prevents the police from arresting the accused,” said one of them. The victims said the company had lured them into investing in its various projects with money back scheme. However, it did not pay back the cash nor did it give any land to the investors. Its sister concern S-virgin also had lured many people. However, these people did not get their money.

Abhimanyu Nayak, one of the victims, said more than 10,000 people had invested several lakhs of rupees individually in various projects of the company. “We were told that we would be provided with lands in Bhubaneswar. Besides, we were also assured to get high interest on our investments. We were paid for one or two months and the payment stopped later on,” said Nayak. The initial investors had been told to bring more people into this net for which they would get more benefits.

Those people who got land from the company had been provided with lands, which belonged to Lord Jagannath temple administration.

The victims had lodged a complaint with the police regarding the land scam.

Mamata Mohanty, one of the victims, said she purchased land in November last year and when she went to the tehsil office for mutation she found it to be of the Jagannath temple. Similarly, S-virgin its sister concern had lured people to invest in its innovative investment plan of “send SMS and get good returns”.

Another investor and victim of the fraud Sadashiv Samal said S-virgin people lured him to invest in this company in return of good amounts.

“The company people convinced me that there were several investment categories. If someone starts with the minimum investment of Rs 5,000, he will get Rs 50 for each SMS text sent from his mobile phone. For Rs 10,000 investment, the SMS text sender will get Rs 100 and the return will increase with the increase in investment amount,” said Samal.

The victims alleged the company had lured them to create a website and announcing that it had international office in the US. After they invested in the company, they were told to send SMS texts from their mobile phones to people to lure them to invest in this company. Many people invested in this policy and lost their money.

These victims had lodged complaints with the police. Initially, the police did not pay any heed to their complaints. After they approached Orissa High Court and gheraoed the company office and created a ruckus, the police registered their complaints. Even on March 7, the managing director of the company Debashish Mohanty was arrested by the Khandagiri police while trying to flee after firing at some of these investors near Forest Park Square.