Odisha EOW Arrests Ponzi Scheme Firm Director From Kolkata For Rs 123 Cr Fraud

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police arrested the director of a ponzi scheme company from West Bengal for allegedly cheating and misappropriating more than Rs 123 crore.

The accused, identified as Tusar Bhanjo of Hamirpur in Paschim Medinapur of West Bengal, was arrested from his residence under Haridevpur area of Kolkata. He was brought to Bhubaneswar on transit remand, EOW said in a statement 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.

Bhanjo was accused of inducing the complainant and many other investors to invest with his company for high returns like monthly interest of 11% on the invested amount apart from 4-5 % extra commission on adding new members.

The Company also promised to provide monthly salary of Rs.4,000/- on investment of Rs 4 lakh, Rs.8,000/- on investment of Rs 8 lakh and so on. In order to induce the investors, Bhanjo was using the social media, leaflet, brochures and physical meetings.

Being induced, the informant joined the Harit Krishi Nidhi Company as a member by depositing Rs 4,000/- in 2023. Subsequently, the informant deposited Rs 2 lakh in the Company’s bank account after which he was able to open 03 No. of wallet IDs in which he had deposited total Rs.2.17 lakhs and got 11% interest only for one month.

Thereafter, no amount was paid to him by the accused, who absconded with the invested money of thousands of investors including the informant.

As found on investigation, arrested accused Tusar Bhanjo who had earlier formed M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd. registered with ROC, Cuttack, 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.

Further, chit fund activities although are prohibited in Nidhi Company, yet he ran the Ponzi scheme by inducing the investors and promising them higher interest apart from offering substantial commission for arranging new investors. For the purpose, he used the social media like You Tube and WhatsApp, leaflet and brochures and held meetings at different places.

In this way, he collected more than Rs.123 crore. from around 34,000 investors of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even of Bangladesh, EOW said.

During investigation, many incriminating clues have been arrived at and many incriminating materials have been seized those include mobile phones, banking credentials, cheque books and documents of Harit Krishi.