A state financial official said that from Sunday afternoon till late night, the sleuths of the DEO conducted a marathon raid and search operations at the residence of a Kolkata- based businessman, Amarnath Shroff at Harish Mukherjee Road in south Kolkata.
"Another Kolkata-based businessman, Shanti Surana was arrested recently from his residence at Ballygunge also in south Kolkata. Initially, it was perceived that Surana was the one and only brain behind the Ponzi racket. However, during interrogation he admitted that he had a partner in the business, named Amarnath Shroff. Accordingly, raid and search operations were conducted at his residence," the official said.
It is learnt, Shroff, also a real estate promoter along with Surana had allured a number of persons to invest in real estate promotional schemes against promises of hefty returns. State finance department sources said that the target of the duo were mainly the moneyed aged persons with their children staying away from them. "In this process they raised about Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 3 crore on an average. We have traced one such individual who invested over Rs 10 crore in this Ponzi business. The total funds accumulated by the duo was to the tune of around Rs 2,000 crore," a state finance department official.
It is learnt that in the marathon raid and search operations from Sunday afternoon till late night, the DEO officials seized several incriminating documents related to the Ponzi business. "Our investigating officials suspect that some more people might be involved in this menace and they are trying to track them through examination of the documents," the state finance department official said.
Prince Kumar, a resident of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, has been accused of forging documents and misappropriating Rs 1.5 crore from investors in Odisha. He was produced before the court of CJM, Mathura and is being brought to Odisha.
The EOW said Prince Kumar and his company duped hundreds of investors across Odisha giving false assurances of high returns under different schemes involving various digital/online products.
The company collected huge money from investors assuring them very high returns and misleading them that this company is running successful Desi/ Indian version of Whatsapp, YouTube, Amazon, email, online/digital gaming, digital payment, Netflix etc. kind of products.
“Prince Kumar gave false assurances to investors that their deposit amount would double within one year. In doing so, he was able to induce the investors to invest in the company although the company has no commensurate/real business activity to pay high returns,” the EOW said in a press release.
“The deposit collected by the company under the cover of Direct Digital Marketing is nothing but Ponzi Scheme,” the EOW said adding the investigation of the case is on.
Sources said Das, the main accused in the Seashore chit fund scam, was granted bail in cases registered against him by the CBI and at district level. He was released from the jail at around 1pm today.
Das's brother Pravat Das and middleman Subhankar Nayak, who were also arrested in this connection, have already been released from jail on bail earlier this year.
Prashant Das was arrested by state Crime Branch from Mumbai on June 20, 2013, before the case was handed over to the CBI following Supreme Court order. He had been lodged at Jharpara jail in Bhubaneswar since then.
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Briefing mediapersons at the party state headquarters, Javadekar said around 50 MLAs of ruling-BJD have promoted several chit fund companies in the state. He further said that small gullible depositors have not yet received their invested money.
The senior BJP leader also slammed the state government over poor state of education, lack of healthcare infrastructure and mismanagement in power sector.
"While there is acute shortage of teachers and doctors in schools and hospitals, respectively, many villages are still deprived of electricity," he said.
In response, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra termed Javadekar's statements as false and baseless.
Javadekar, who is on a two-day visit to Odisha, had also targeted Naveen yesterday terming him as anti-poor while hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saviour of poor people.
Javadekar alleged that development in the State has come to a standstill during the 17 years of BJD rule.
The Union Minister has been given the charge of strengthening BJP’s organisation at seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha.
In its report, the Commission has stated that a total of 41519 small depositors have been identified after a thorough probe into the complaints filed against 176 companies.
Meanwhile, the Commission has recommended refund of money to these small depositors soon.
The probe panel has so far gone through 60941 affidavits filed by the small depositors in its three interim reports.
The Commission will examine another 137388 affidavits before submitting its fourth report. As many as 342 companies have already been served notice in this regard, sources said.
Also Read: Chit fund commission likely to submit interim report today
The Commission will complete examining all the affidavits received by small depositors by its fifth interim report, said Justice Das
The report also has it mentioned that while some companies are not turning up even after being served with notice, addresses of some firms have been changed.
During his two-day visit to the capital city, Krishna will have discussion with the officials of the central investigating agency. Besides reviewing the progress of investigation into various chit fund scams, he would also discuss on the future course of action to further accelerate the probe .
Krishna’s visit to Bhubaneswar holds significance in the backdrop that the CBI has recently intensified its probe into the chit fund scams.
In a letter to ADG (Prison), wife of Dash, Monalisha accused one Biranchi Nayak of Jatni of extorting inmates in the jail. She said Nayak allegedly used abusive language and had also beaten up Das last month. She also alleged Nayak threatened Das of life.
Monalisha requested the ADG to provide security to Das and probe into the matter.
"The Laxmi Sagar police had already been informed about the matter but they are not heeding our concern," alleged Monalisha.
Monalisha has also brought the matter into the notice of the CBI court here.
In 2014, CBI had arrested Das in connection with his company’s alleged money laundering activities. He was also considered a close associate of suspended BJD MLA Pravat Tripathy who was earlier arrested for his alleged link in the Artha Tatwa Group case.
Bhubaneswar: The Special CBI court today granted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take Green Ray International director Mir Shahiruddin on a six-day remand for interrogation in connection with a ponzi scam in Odisha as well as outside the State.
After Shahiruddin was produced before the special court in Bhubaneswar by the CBI, he was sent to the six-day remand despite an appeal was made by the central probing agency for a 10-day remand for the interrogation.
Earlier in the day, Shahiruddin, who was arrested in Kolkata, was brought to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand.
The court convicted chit fund company Shirdi Sai Real Estate’s MD, Prakash Panda. Panda has been sentenced to a jail term of 5 years along with a fine of Rs 3 lakh.
Notably, Prakash was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch over allegations of fraud to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore made against his company.
"Under the Section 6 of Odisha Protection of the Interests of the Depositors Act (OPID) the court has awarded the jail term and fine," said special government counsel, Subrat Mohanty.
The properties attached under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) include MiiResorts Group 1 Pty Ltd and Sanctuary Cove properties, said the official, adding the provisional order would be sent to the government who would then take it up with Australian government.
Bhangoo was recently arrested along with his other company directors. He is presently in judicial custody.
The ED is investigating money laundering on the basis of Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) February 19, 2014 FIR under offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating against Bhangoo and his companies PGF and PACL.
Bhangoo and his companies are accused of cheating 5.5 crore investors all over India by promising them agricultural plots and high return on their investments. They also collected Rs 45,000 crore over the years from the investors through their false promises.
Bhangoo had employed the agents offering them 15-20 per cent commission on each investors' money and further each agent was asked to bring more agents and investors, like a multi-marketing scheme. There were 11 levels of agents for collecting money from investors.
According to the ED statement, the PACL directly and through its 43 front companies during 2009 to 2014 invested an amount of Rs 650 crore in its group company PIPL which further invested Rs 147 crore in 2010 for acquiring 50 per cent of shares of Australia-based Miiresorts Group 1 Pty Ltd.
The PIPL also invested Rs 459 crore between 2009 and 2014 for acquiring over 99 per cent shares of another Australian company Miigroup Holdings Pty Ltd.
An amount of Rs 25 crore was also remitted to Australia-based Hicky Lawyers Trust for purchase of Sanctuary Cove Properties, said the statement.
It said that Miiresorts Group purchased Sheraton Mirage Hotel for a price of approximately (Australian) $62.5 million and sold the same to Australian Wattle Development Pty Ltd in May 2010.
"This proceeds of sale (Australian $87.37 million/Rs 447 crore) by the order of the Federal Court of Australia were received by McCullough Robertson Lawyers and invested in an interest bearing account with an Australian trading bank," the statement said.
It said that the two Australian companies-- Miiresorts Group and Miigroup Holdings-- are controlled by Bhangoo and his family members.
A toll-free number 1800-345-7154 has also been set up at the Reserve Bank of India, Bhubaneswar, where people can call to complaint over unauthorised collection of money across the state.
"The SPs and collectors of districts were asked to keep strict vigil on activities of non-banking financial entities including multi-state cooperative societies and fake insurance companies who are trying to cheat people," chief secretary A P Padhi told reporters after a meeting yesterday.
The meeting chaired by Padhi issued the direction after the government received reports of fresh chit fund companies coming up in the state.
The police were also asked to give a monthly report on activities of such non-banking institutions and act against them.
Some firms have adopted new ways to collect money from the public such as misusing names of branded companies and these issues were also discussed in the meeting, he said.
The chief secretary said messages warning people about false promises by chit fund companies are also being sent to mobile phones of the public.
Meanwhile, a toll-free telephone number 1800-345-7154 has been operationalised at RBI, Bhubaneswar for receiving calls from complainants regarding unauthorised money collection across the state.
The RBI is also taking steps to make people aware of fake phone calls and email messages announcing winning of prize or lottery, officials said.
It was also decided at the meeting that no multi-state cooperative society can run business in Odisha without no objection certificate from the Registrar Cooperative Societies.
The proposed law would address the issue of illicit deposit-taking activities, as it provides for strict action against such activities.
"The Bill will help tackle the menace of illicit deposit-taking activities in the country which, at present, are exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings," an official statement said after the Cabinet meeting.
The new Bill will replace the Ordinance promulgated in February this year which will otherwise cease to operate after six weeks of re-assembling of the Parliament.
The draft law has been brought in the wake of alleged duping of lakhs of financially illiterate people by Saradha and Rose Valley chit funds in West Bengal, Odisha and other states. Investigating agency CBI has filed several cases in the alleged scam.
The agency has filed its supplementary charge sheet before a special CBI court against three private persons including Behera, Kamalakanta Das of Hotel Solan Inn, and Sambit Kumar Khuntia, a private individual.
The association has also been named in the charge sheet as accused, they said.
The agency alleged that the Association, through Behera, the then honorary secretary, acted in a criminal conspiracy with the Artha Tatwa group and promoted it to boost its credibility in the eyes of public, they said.
It helped in attracting more investment in the different ponzi schemes floated by the Artha Tatwa group.
It is alleged that the accused received a sum of Rs one crore (approx.) from the said group of companies in the garb of sponsorship of the Odisha Ranjit Cricket Team and title sponsorship of Odisha Premier League, 2011.
"It was also alleged that the representative of a hotel in criminal conspiracy with other co-accused private persons was actively involved in the mis-appropriation of the immovable properties of the said Group of Companies (ArthaTatwa) at Balasore and Bhubaneswar," a CBI Spokesperson said here.
It is alleged that by doing so he became a partner to misappropriate the said properties purchased out of the funds of the group.
"In furtherance of the criminal conspiracy, the said accused allegedly misappropriated the sale proceeds of two immovable properties," he said.
In the charge sheet filed before Bhubaneswar special court, the CBI has charged private individuals Pradeep Kumar Singh, Jitendra Kumar Mishra and companies Green India Properties Private Limited, Green India Infra Projects Limited, Green India Retailing Private Limited and Green India Multi State Member's Credit Co-operative Society Limited for criminal conspiracy, cheating and provisions of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, they said.
During the probe, CBI found that the accused persons had conspired and allegedly cheated investors to the tune of Rs 69.43 crore between 2009 and 2013 by collecting deposits from the public on the promises of giving them back high returns, they said.
The FIR had alleged that the company took money in the name of providing land but neither the company provided that nor refunded the money.
Earlier, a charge sheet was filed on December 2, 2014.