Bhubaneswar, June 10: The crime branch has arrested the chairman of a deposit collection company which had produced four Odia movies, two of them starring BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty.
Pravash Chandra Rout, the chairman Oscar Group of Companies was arrested yesterday night from south Delhi. The firm had allegedly collected nearly Rs 230 crore from three states - Odisha, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Police said Rout had been absconding since April 2014 after a case was registered against his company by the economic offence wing of the state crime branch. Rout was hiding in a south Delhi temple for the past few months in the guise of one Laxman Nayak.
"He had told the temple officials that he was undergoing treatment at AIIMS," said a police officer.
"Investigations revealed that the firm had invested in four Odia movies - To Akhire Mu, Most Wanted, Balunga Toka and Rangila Toka. The group also ran a college in Kendrapara," said special DG, crime branch, B.K. Sharma.
While Babushan starred in To Akhire Mu, Tatwa Prakash Satpathy aka Pappu Pom Pom, who is known to be closely associated with the BJD, was the lead in Rangila Toka. BJD MP Sidhhant Mohapatra was also a part of the film. BJD's Rajya Sabha MP, Anubhav Mohanty, played the lead in Most Wanted and Balunga Toka, which were released between 2010 and 2012.
Investigations revealed that several builders and deposit collection companies have invested in Odia movies. City-based realtor-cum-film producer Niranjan Rana, who was arrested on June 2 for allegedly duping investors of Rs 4 crore on the pretext of providing houses, invested in at least six Odia movies. In June 2015, comedian Pappu Pom Pom had also come under police scanner following the arrest of another builder-cum-producer Gayadhar Jena for allegedly cheating investors.
"We have found a triangular connection between Ponzi firms, builders and producers of Odia movies. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the money collected from investors for other purposes ended up in the film industry. We will conduct a separate investigation in this connection," Sharma said.
