Kolkata firm’s MD held for ‘links’ to state chit fund companies

BHUBANESWAR: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch have arrested a businessman from Kolkata for his alleged nexus with two chit fund companies, which had duped several investors of Rs 2.62 crore in Odisha during 2010-14.
The accused was identified as Jaydeep Raha, managing director of Jetex Ocenair Pvt Ltd, that is into cargo business. He was produced before the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate, Alipore, South 24 Parganas, and later brought on transit remand to Bhubaneswar.
EOW said Raha had links with two chit fund companies — Ambitious Diversified Projects Management Ltd and Oak India Multistate Credit Co-operative Society — both owned by Omkar Singh of Kolkata. The chit fund companies allegedly collected Rs 2.62 crore from 1,968 investors of Odisha between 2010 and 2014 by promising them high returns on their deposits monthly and annually.
“The companies shut down their offices in the state and their functionaries absconded after collecting huge money from the depositors in 2014. We had registered a case against Singh and his companies in 2015. During investigation, we found that Singh had diverted Rs 1.83 crore to the account of Raha’s firm in 2011-12,” an EOW officer said.
Though the EOW had served notices to Raha to depose for interrogation, he did not turn up. Raha allegedly went on the run apprehending arrest.
“We received information that he was in Kolkata. We arrested him near his residence,” the officer said. During interrogation, Raha could not give any satisfactory reply on the transfer of Rs 1.83 crore to his account.
Earlier, the EOW had arrested Oak India’s MD Singh, and directors Kunal Tiwary, Arshad Hussain and Mringanka Sekhar Chakrabarty. The chit fund scam by Oak India came to light amid many such frauds committed by several other deposit collection companies in the state during 2013-14. Amid much hue and cry over the multi-hundred crore chit fund frauds by many companies, including Saradha Group, Artha Tatwa Group and Seashore Group, the Supreme Court directed a CBI probe into the scams in May 2014.
Bhubaneswar: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch have arrested a businessman from Kolkata for his alleged nexus with two chit fund companies, which had duped several investors of Rs 2.62 crore in Odisha during 2010-14.
The accused was identified as Jaydeep Raha, managing director of Jetex Ocenair Pvt Ltd, that is into cargo business. He was produced before the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate, Alipore, South 24 Parganas, and later brought on transit remand to Bhubaneswar.
EOW said Raha had links with two chit fund companies — Ambitious Diversified Projects Management Ltd and Oak India Multistate Credit Co-operative Society — both owned by Omkar Singh of Kolkata. The chit fund companies allegedly collected Rs 2.62 crore from 1,968 investors of Odisha between 2010 and 2014 by promising them high returns on their deposits monthly and annually.
“The companies shut down their offices in the state and their functionaries absconded after collecting huge money from the depositors in 2014. We had registered a case against Singh and his companies in 2015. During investigation, we found that Singh had diverted Rs 1.83 crore to the account of Raha’s firm in 2011-12,” an EOW officer said.
Though the EOW had served notices to Raha to depose for interrogation, he did not turn up. Raha allegedly went on the run apprehending arrest.
“We received information that he was in Kolkata. We arrested him near his residence,” the officer said. During interrogation, Raha could not give any satisfactory reply on the transfer of Rs 1.83 crore to his account.
Earlier, the EOW had arrested Oak India’s MD Singh, and directors Kunal Tiwary, Arshad Hussain and Mringanka Sekhar Chakrabarty. The chit fund scam by Oak India came to light amid many such frauds committed by several other deposit collection companies in the state during 2013-14. Amid much hue and cry over the multi-hundred crore chit fund frauds by many companies, including Saradha Group, Artha Tatwa Group and Seashore Group, the Supreme Court directed a CBI probe into the scams in May 2014.