Bhubaneswar: The economic offences wing (
EOW) of state crime branch here on Thursday arrested three key functionaries of a chit fund company on charges of duping investors of nearly Rs 5 crore in 2012-13. The accused were identified as Laxmikant Padhi, his wife Abanti and Durga Prasana
Tripathy.
An EOW source said Laxmikant had floated
Sai Gayatri Group in
Bhadrak in 2011 and allegedly indulged in unauthorised collection of deposits from people by assuring them of high interest rates. Abanti and Tripathy were directors of the company. The EOW said the accused collected deposits from gullible investors under the banners of
Sai Gayatri macro skyscraper India limited, Sai Gayatri multi-state credit cooperative society and Sai Gayatri macro skyscraper cooperative limited.
"We registered a case last month after receiving complaints from duped investors. The accused had absconded after cheating cases were registered against them in some police stations in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts. We are verifying antecedents of the accused and trying to find out complicity of others, if any," deputy inspector general (EOW) Nikhil Kumar Kanodia told TOI.
The EOW said the accused lured investors by offering annual return between 18% and 25% on their deposits.
