Odisha Govt Extends Chit Fund Probe Panel’s Tenure By Another Six Months

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government for the third time extended the tenure of the Justice M.M. Das Commission of Inquiry probing the multi-crore chit fund scam by another six months.

The tenure of the Commission has been extended from August 5 till February 4, 2020, said the Home Department in a notification on Friday.

The state government had set up the one-man commission of inquiry with Justice R K Patra on July 9, 2013, for verification and return of deposits collected by different Ponzi firms.

Following the death of Justice Patra, the government,in February 2015 had appointed retired Justice Madan Mohan Das to head the inquiry.

The Commission, till date, has submitted the seventh interim report. According to the report, the 1,36,027 small investors (who had invested Rs 10,000 or less) have been identified. With this, the total number of small investors identified so far is 4,97,844,of which 1931 small investors have been refunded the money they had invested in the chit fund company.

Besides, the Commission has identified 421 chit fund companies, the report added.