Bhubaneswar, July 19: Union minister of state for corporate affairs Sachin Pilot today announced that a Serious Fraud Investigation Office would be opened in Odisha.

Pilot said: “In the eastern part of India, we need to have a presence, so that we can assist the state governments in doing some of the investigations and give them legal inputs to build strong cases against erring deposit collection companies.”

At present, the organisation has its offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Pilot was here to attend a seminal on “Investors Protection and Awareness Programme”.

Later, Pilot held discussions with the state government’s senior officials, including finance secretary U.N. Behera and additional DG (crime branch) B.K. Sharma, and sought a report on the extent of activities of fraudulent companies and the losses incurred by the depositors.

According to the state government’s estimates, nearly 6.89 lakh investors have been cheated to the tune of Rs 4,375 crore. Though the Odisha government said the number of investors was 6.89 lakh, it could be much higher. The figure is likely to increase in future as more investors are coming to the fore with allegations of being cheated.

Pilot said: “The Centre is open for a CBI inquiry into the scam. If the Odisha government writes to us seeking a CBI probe into the scam, we will certainly do the needful. In a federal structure, the state government has to ask for such a probe.”

He argued that the Odisha government should order for a criminal investigation into the multicrore money deposit collection scam.

“Since a judge has no powers to collect evidence for prosecution of the guilty in a court of law, it would have been better to order for criminal investigation rather than a judicial investigation,” he said.

“Steps should be taken to ensure that the duped depositors get back their money. Our primary objective is to recover the investors’ money,” he said.

Reacting to Pilot’s statement, panchayati raj minister Kalpataru Das said: “There is no need for a CBI inquiry into the case. We have sent the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in financial establishment) Bill to the President for his assent. Once it becomes a law, steps will be initiated to return the investors’ money.”