It has come to light that former MLA and YSR Congress leader Malla Vijaya Prasad, who was arrested by the Odisha Crime Branch’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) over his alleged involvement in a multi-hundred crore chit fund case, has invested heavily in Tollywood, West Bengal film industry.
EOW SP Gagarin Mohanty has revealed that Prasad is a heavyweight producer in the Telugu cinema industry. He was producing movies under big banners by allegedly investing crores of chit fund money.
After his arrest, the EOW had brought Prasad to Bhubaneswar on Tuesday for further interrogation following a health checkup at Visakhapatnam.
Later, he was produced in a special chit fund court in Cuttack. The court would hear his bail petition on Sunday.
The 52-year-old Prasad, who is currently the chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Education and Welfare Development Corporation, owned Wellfare Buildings and Estates Private Limited has been accused of duping thousands of depositors from Odisha and other States around Rupees 1,200 crore.
A case was booked against him by the Odisha police in 2019, following lodging of a huge number of complaints by investors, who failed to get any returns on their deposits.
Earlier in 2016, the CBI had raided his office and residential premises in connection with alleged chit fund scams.