Bhubaneswar, Oct 22

Aditya Kumar Bisoi, director of Flourish India, a Odisha-based non-banking financial company was arrested Tuesday in connection with a multi-crore chit fund scam.

A team of the economic offences wing (EOW) of the crime branch arrested Bisoi from a hotel in the state capital Bhubaneswar following complaints by investors of his not returning the assured money.

His company allegedly collected more than Rs.100 crore from thousands of people through its 130 branches across the state by promising high returns. 

"The company was collecting money from investors starting from Rs.50 to thousands. It was also promising a high return of five per cent per month," deputy inspector general of police (EOW) Rajesh Kumar told IANS.

"On a tip off, we raided a city hotel and arrested Bisoi, 50," he added.

EOW had July arrested two other Flourish India directors - Ballav Prasad Nayak and Prasanna Dash.

The alleged chit fund scam came to light last year after investors complained they were allegedly cheated.

Police and the EOW of Odisha Police Crime Branch have been investigating the allegations.

Police raided offices of several such companies and arrested many people. The government appointed a judicial commission after coming under attack from opposition parties.

The one-man commission, led by retired Sikkim High Court chief justice R.K. Patra, has already received about eight lakh complaints and earlier this month extended the deadline for receiving complaints to Oct 31.

The other companies accused of duping people include the Kolkata-based Saradha Group and Odisha-based Seashore and Artha Tatwa groups. The loss from the scam is claimed to be in billions of rupees.

The state government in July announced it would create a corpus fund of Rs.300 crore to help the duped investors. However, it has yet to begin the process of paying the investors.

By:IANS