Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Odisha arrested the Director of a company for running a Ponzi scheme and cheating over Rs 123 crores.
The accused has been identified as Tusar Bhanjo of Hamirpur, Paschim Medinapur, West Bengal.
As per reports, Bhanjo was arrested on June 4 and brought to Bhubaneswar based on a transit remand. He will be produced before the Designated Court under the OPID Act, Cuttack today.
The case was registered based on the written allegation of Manmohan Dora of Bhubaneswar against the Company Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd., M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd., and its Director Tushar Bhanjo. It is alleged that the accused introduced and lured investors to invest with his company for high monthly returns with an interest of 11 per cent on the invested amount apart from the 4-5 per cent extra commission on adding new members.
The Company also promised to provide a monthly salary of Rs.4,000 on investment of Rs.4 lakh and Rs.8,000 on investment of Rs.8 lakh. The accused Director Tushar Bhanjo used social media, leaflets, and brochures and conducted physical meetings to lure the investors.
As per EOW, the complainant subsequently joined the Harit Krishi Nidhi Company as a member by depositing Rs.4, 000 in the year 2023 and deposited Rs.2 lakhs in the Company’s bank account after which he was able to open three wallet IDs in which he had deposited total Rs.2.17 lakhs and got 11 per cent interest only for one month.
According to EOW, no amount was paid to the complainant by the accused Director Tusar Bhanjo who went absconding with the invested amount of thousands of investors.
As found during the investigation, Tusar Bhanjo had earlier formed M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd. registered with ROC, Cuttack.
He then opened Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd. in the year 2023, which was incorporated with ROC, West Bengal. But, in violation of the Nidhi rules, he opened the offices of the Nidhi Company in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, etc. whereas the Nidhi Company cannot operate beyond the State of its incorporation, said EOW.
Further, chit-fund activities although prohibited in Nidhi Company, he ran the Ponzi scheme by inducing the investors and promising them higher interest apart from offering substantial commissions for arranging new investors.
“The accused collected more than Rs.123 Cr. from around 34,000 investors of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattishgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even in Bangladesh,” said EOW.
