Kendrapara/Berhampur, July 6: Police have arrested six persons of one Sidha Mahapurusha Money Security, a money circulation company, on charges of duping investors, mostly people of remote villages in the district.
The firm had run away with nearly Rs 4 crore from poor and lower-middle class investors from remote villages in the Kedrapara Sadar and Nikirai police stations limits.
The company had been operating in these areas since the past one-and-a-half years. The police launched a manhunt to nab the fraudsters, who had been absconding.
"Firm director Laxmi Priya Rout and five of her accomplices were arrested yesterday from Chotimangalpur village. The accused persons had also threatened some of the depositors. People did not cross-check the credentials of the company even though frauds of this nature had widely come to light across the state. Lured by hefty returns, deposits were made in the company through its agents," said Kendrapara superintendent of police Satish Kumar Gajaviye.
"The arrested persons were booked under sections 34 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and are being interrogated. They would be later remanded to judicial custody. We have also referred the matter to the crime branch's economic offences wing," Gajaviye said.
The poor depositors were left clueless after they had found the firm's offices closed. The company officials remained incommunicado. Their mobile phones remained switched off. After realising that they had been taken for a ride, the duped investors lodged police complaints.
Majority of the duped depositors were lured into investing in the deposit collection firm and were assured of high returns. They were told the money invested would double in two years. Most of the investors are marginal farmers, daily labourers and petty businessmen.
"It is unfortunate that people are recklessly investing in bogus companies and losing their hard-earned money. The administration has issued advisories to the panchayats for spreading awareness on the risks involved in investing in dubious companies," said Kendrapara district collector Debraj Senapati.
"The panchayati raj institutions have been called upon to convince people to abstain from depositing money in bogus firms," said Senapati.
In another development, the crime branch has launched a manhunt to trace the managing director and three directors of one Katloon Credit Co-operative Limited, another money deposit company in Berhampur.
The firm had allegedly duped its investors of almost Rs 10 crore.
On June 4, the police had arrested Katloon director Aswini Kumar Nayak of Ramanda village in Ganjam.
Some of the company agents informed the police about Aswini's whereabouts after they had spotted him in a luxury car outside a hotel in Berhampur city.
A team, led by Buguda police inspector-in-charge Ranjan Kumar Dey and Berhampur town police inspector in charge S. Nihar Ranjan Pradhan, raided the hotel and nabbed Aswini.
Dey said: "Aswini has revealed the names and addresses of the other directors. They are all from Ganjam. We have also seized some documents from his possession."
"We have registered a case against the Ponzi firm. As many as 24 investors had complained about it. They had deposited around Rs 1.36 crore in the company," said Dey.
The company was registered in November 2010, and since then, the credit co-operative firm had opened its offices at Buguda, Aska and other places in the district. It has immovable landed properties at Jagannath Prasad, Kavisurya Nagar, Budhaamba and the city.
"According to its agreement, the company had promised us to double the money in only two years and refund it by May 24. All the five directors had signed the agreement, which also said that if the company had failed to refund the money in time, we would get it back by disposing of the landed properties within July. But, they absconded before the time," said an investor.
