Bhubaneswar, May 12: The state government has constituted three-member committees in all the blocks of the state to identify the victims of Ponzi companies. The process to return the money to the duped investors will commence once the committees complete the identification process.

The members of these committees will include an assistant sub-inspector from the local police station, the local revenue inspector and panchayat extension officer. The committees will act according to the Odisha Protection of the Interest of the Depositors Act to identify the Ponzi victims.

Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi today said: "We had a detailed video-conference on the issue. We asked the police superintendents and the district collectors to verify the claims sent to them about the chit fund depositors. The committee constituted at the block level will verify the cases one by one. Steps will be taken to return the money once the verification process is over."

However, the chief secretary did not give any hint about when the people would get back their money.

Finance secretary T.K. Pandey said: "The designated court has directed the state government to consider refund to around 3.93 lakh depositors of the Rose Valley group whereas Justice M.M. Das Commission has identified 12,000 small depositors who put their money with various companies."

Pandey added: "The exercise of identifying the depositors will be videographed. The committees will undertake field verification, a must under the OPID Act."