Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Odisha, has arrested two more persons from West Bengal in connection with the alleged Rs 123 crore fraud by Harit Krishi Nidhi Limited.
Those arrested have been identified as Dwipika Bhanjo and Tandra Bhanjo, wife and daughter of director of the firm Tusar Bhanjo. “The arrested were produced before the CJM Court, Barsat, 24 Pragana North, Kolkata on May 20 and were brought to Bhubaneswar on 3-day transit remand. They will be produced before the Designated Court under OPID Act, Cuttack, today,” an EOW release said.
This pertains to a case registered against Harit Krishi and Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt Ltd along with Bhanjo, director of both firms, on May 28, 2024, on the basis of a complaint by an investor, Manmohan Dora of Bhubaneswar.
Dora alleged that Bhanjo lured him and thousands of other depositors to invest in his company, promising high returns, including 11% monthly interest and an additional 4-5% commission for adding new members. Bhanjo also promised the investors a monthly salary of Rs 4,000 and Rs 8,000 over an investment of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 8 lakh respectively.
The accused used social media, leaflets, brochures and conducted meetings to attract investors.
In 2023, Dora joined Harit Krishi by depositing Rs 4,000. He later invested Rs 2 lakh in the company’s bank account and opened three wallet IDs, depositing a total of Rs 2.17 lakh. He received 11% interest for only one month before Bhanjo allegedly absconded with the money of thousands of investors.
During investigation, EOW officials found out that Bhanjo had earlier formed Transvision Dream and the company was registered with ROC, Cuttack. He started Harit Krishi, a nidhi company, in 2023 and the firm was incorporated with ROC, West Bengal.
A nidhi company is a type of organisation in the Indian non-banking finance sector whose core business is borrowing and lending money between its members.
Violating rules, Bhanjo opened offices in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Assam and ran a pyramid structured Ponzi scheme by creating chains in the downline by recruiting new investors. “He used platforms like YouTube and WhatsApp, leaflet and brochures and held meetings at different places and collected more than Rs 123 crore from around 34,000 investors in Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even Bangladesh,” the release further stated.
Further investigation revealed that Rs 43.67 lakh was transferred from the accounts of Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd. to the personal account of Tandra. Similarly, Rs 41 lakh was credited to the personal account of Dwipika.
Initially, Dwipika was the director of Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd having shareholding of 1000.
Bhanjo, who is in jail since his arrest in June 2024, visited Dubai and Bangkok from the invested money of the investors. He was also planning to start a company in Dubai. “During investigation, several incriminating materials, mobile phones, banking credentials, cheque books and documents of Harit Krishi were seized,” the release said, adding that further investigation is underway.