Bhubaneswar, May 23: Chandrasekharpur police today arrested two women for allegedly cheating a number of people in Niladri Vihar after forming a deposit collection group and luring the victims to invest in it with the promise of high returns.

The accused duo were identified as Kantilata Mohanty, 47, and Geetanjali Das, 45, of sector-II in Niladri Vihar. Sources said the duo were sent to Jharapada jail after a local court rejected their bail pleas.

The complainants said they had been promised a five per cent interest for their investments and the total money would be divided among the depositors at the end of each year. But after paying for one year, those who had formed the group did not keep their word. While trying to collect their money the depositors were harassed and they approached the police who refused to receive their complaints.

“We had tried to lodge a complaint with Chandrasekharpur police on April 8, but the officials did not register it because one of the accused was the wife of a police officer. On May 2, we lodged a complaint with economic offence wing of the crime branch. They received the complaint but did not register a case. We met the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) yesterday and he instructed the Chandrasekharpur police to register the case,” said Sasmita Mishra, a complainant.

Following the DCP’s instruction, the Chandrasekharpur police arrested the two women after registering a case last night.

“We arrested two women and booked them for cheating, harassing and verbally abusing the victims and they were produced in court this afternoon,” said inspector in charge of Chandrasekharpur police station Rabi Satpathy.

Another complainant, Priti Sudha Mohanty, said around 19 people in their area had formed a group similar to a self-help group and asked residents to deposit money with them.

They lured the depositors with a high rate of interest. The group members said they would invest the money in other activities and after every year the profit would be divided among the depositors.

“We invested money in the group, which started operations in 2010. At the end of that year we got our money. So, we invested more money in 2011, but they did not return our investment at the end of that year. They would threaten us when we’d approach them. We had to go to the cops do get our money,” said Mohanty. He said the group had taken around Rs 1.5 crore from them.

In another development, the economic offence wing of the crime branch today arrested the managing director of a deposit collection company in Baripada.

Officials said the accused, V. Sampath, had floated Sastra Enterprises and collected Rs 5 crore, but did not return it to the investors.