The assets of the chit-fund company Artha Tatwa will be confiscated. The special OPID court (a designated court that operates under the Odisha Protection of Interests (in Financial Establishments) Act, 2011) in Cuttack issued an order to the government for confiscation of the movable and immovable property of the Artha Tatwa group on Wednesday.
As per reports, 110 acres of land, 11 luxury vehicles, and deposits worth Rs 2.17 crore of the chit-fund firm will be attached.
The Court in its order also stated that the confiscated properties and assets, would be auctioned and the funds from the auction would be distributed among its investors, who have long been waiting for the refund of their money.
As for the court order, government special counsel, Subrat Kumar Mohanty said that the court has ordered for auction of the company’s bank deposits worth Rs 2.17 crore, 110 acres of valuable land which have been purchased by the company in Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Ganjam and several other places.
Mohanty also stated that the Artha Tatwa group had collected funds from thousands of small investors through various lucrative schemes and purchased land at different places in the name of its MD Pradip Sethy, other directors, and some company officials.
“The state government had got complaints about illegal collection of money and heard the complaints. Hearing the complaints, the government issued an attachment order through the Finance department. A case on the basis of the attachment order was moved at the OPID court,” he added.
In July 2017, a court sentenced Artha Tatwa Group chief, Pradip Sethy and two company directors to seven years of imprisonment for their involvement in the chit fund scam.
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It may be noted here that the Bhubaneswar Chief Judicial Magistrate had earlier convicted Sethy, and two others of the company in a case registered at the Kharvela Nagar Police Station.
The company, registered under the Companies Act and Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, has been accused of duping thousands of depositors of over Rs 500 crore through lucrative schemes promising high returns.