Bhubaneswar, June 9 (FN Agency) The Economic Offences Wing of Odisha Crime Branch has arrested a company director Tushar Bhanjo from his residence under Haridevpur Police station in West Bengal for duping Rs.123 crore from innocent investors. EOW sources said around 34,000 investors of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even Bangladesh have been cheated by the accused. Bhanjo was booked under section 20/467/468/471/120-B IPC, Sec.4/5/6 PCMCS (Banning) Act, Sec.6 OPID Act rw. Sec. 66 (D) of I.T Act. He was produced before the Court of ACJM, Allipore, Kolkata on June 5 and was brought to Bhubaneswar on the strength of transit remand and produced before the Designated Court under OPID Act, Cuttack on Saturday. The case was registered on the written allegation of one Manmohan Dora of Bhubaneswar against the Company Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd., M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd. and its Director Tushar Bhanjo .
Dora had alleged that Bhanjo had induced him and many other investors to invest with his company for high returns like monthly interest of 11 percent on the invested amount apart from 4-5 percent extra commission on adding new members. The Company also promised to provide a monthly salary of Rs.4,000 on investment of Rs.4 lakhs, Rs.8,000 on investment of Rs.8 lakhs and so on. He alleged that Bhanjo has absconded with the invested amount of thousands of investors and collected more than Rs.123 crore from around 34,000 investors of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even Bangladesh. After paying some promised initial return @ 11 percent per month, the arrested accused Director absconded with the collected amount from the investors and misappropriated the same by diverting to other interested accounts. In Odisha, the company had its offices at Balasore, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela and in violation of the Nidhi rule has collected deposits under inducement from around 34,000 investors. In order to promote its activities and induce the investors, the Company was advertising in the social media, distributing the leaflet and brochures and holding meetings of the investors at different places urging them to invest behind the mask of Nidhi Company.
The Company, EOW sources said, was running a pyramidic structured Ponzi scheme by creating chain in the downline by recruiting new investors. The amount collected from investors was invested in Forex Trading by opening a pool account by the Company with the motive to get a return of additional 20 percent on the invested amount which the investors were not aware of. Bhanjo had made pleasant trips to Dubai and Bangkok from the invested money of the investors and diverted the collected money to his personal account and also to the accounts of his family members. This is probably the first Nidhi Company Fraud in Odisha, the EOW said, adding that during investigation, many incriminating clues have been arrived at and many incriminating materials , mobile phones, banking credentials, cheque books and documents have been seized.