Bhubaneswar, June 11: Several luxury vehicles belonging to various money deposit collection companies are gathering dust at many police stations. Some of these are now as good as scrap.

The deposit collection companies have allegedly duped investors of the state of thousands of crores.

The twin cities' police and the state crime branch's economic offences wing were initially probing into the money laundering scam, during which, the investigating agencies had seized the fleet of vehicles owned by head honchos of the Ponzi firms. The CBI later took over the cases from the state investigating agencies following a Supreme Court order.

Artha Tatwa group chief Pradeep Sethy was known for his penchant for luxury vehicles, which he had bought with the hard earned money of investors. The cops had seized 11 vehicles, including a Jaguar worth more than Rs 1.3 crore and a Suzuki Intruder worth Rs 15 lakh, from him.

The sleuths had also seized a Mercedes-Benz worth Rs 70 lakh from the possession of Subhransu Lenka, the Odisha chief of Ponzi firm Astha International, a Surat-based money circulation company. The economic offences wing had also seized a BMW worth Rs 50 lakh from Seashore chief Prashant Dash. The agencies had seized a Mercedes-Benz worth Rs 80 lakh and a Chevrolet worth Rs 40 lakh from Narayan Chandra Nayak, director of Umamani Home Creation Private Limited.

While most of these vehicles have been gathering dust for several years, the police had kept some in garages to ensure that their market value is not affected much. "Most of the police stations are cramped for space and the seized vehicles have made them look clumsy. We don't have any option but to keep the seized vehicles in the open," said a police official.

The investigation agencies have also moved the state finance department for attachment of the seized properties under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors Act. But as most of the Ponzi cases are still pending in courts, the auction is yet to be carried out.

"According to law, the vehicles can only be auctioned with the court's permission. Once the permission is granted, transport officials will inspect the vehicles and evaluate them. But looking at their condition, it seems no buyers will be interested to take part in the auction," admitted an investigating officer.

The duped investors also demanded immediate auction of the vehicles, so that some money could be raised through auction, which can be refunded to the investors. "The valuation of movable properties such as flats and vehicles will take place in time. So, the state government must initiate immediate steps to auction the vehicles," said Arjun Rout, a duped investor.