Court takes cognisance of charges against ponzi firm

Bhubaneswar: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Saturday took cognisance of the chargesheet filed against Nava Diganta Capital Services, a ponzi firm that had allegedly duped thousands of people in the state.
The Enforcement Directorate had filed the prosecution complaint against the firm in the court. The chargesheet had named former BJD MP Ramchandra Hansda, former MLA Subarna Naik, former MLA Hitesh Bagarti and the firm’s directors — Anjan Baliarsingh, Pradeep Patnaik and Kartikeya Parida — as accused. The CBI had arrested them in connection with scam in 2014. The ED began the investigation based on an FIR registered by the CBI and the chargesheet against the accused. Earlier, the ED had attached properties of the accused worth Rs 2.15 crore.
A week ago, the special PMLA court had taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed against former Bhawanipatna MLA Anam Naik in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to possession of disproportionate assets. The ED in March last year attached property of Naik worth Rs 1.52 crore in connection with a case registered in a police station in Koraput.