Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch on Sunday arrested Swetang Patnaik, chief executive officer (CEO) of Ashirbad Multipurpose Cooperative Ltd, from Keonjhar on charges of duping depositors of Rs 10 crore.
The arrested CEO was later forwarded to a designated court in Cuttack.
Patnaik was absconding since 2014 and hiding at different parts of the State. However, he was nabbed by the EOW team from a place in Keonjhar on the basis of a tip-off.
Sources in the EOW said Patnaik and other directors of his company had unauthorisedly collected money from gullible depositors promising high rate of interest. However, the company closed down its office without refunding the invested amount to the depositors.
The duped amount is likely to go up as Ashirbad Multipurpose Cooperative had collected investments through its sister concerns namely Ashirbad Multi Trade Pvt Ltd, Ashirbad Multitech & Infracon Ltd, Ashirbad Goat Rearing India Ltd and Ashirbad Future Care.
The investigation into the case is on, the sources added.
Ashirbad Multipurpose Cooperative was having its corporate office at Paiknagar in Bhubaneswar.
The case was initially registered at Olatpur police station in Cuttack district after a complaint was lodged by one Sarat Chandra Baral of Adaspur. Later the Odisha High Court ordered the EOW to take up the probe.