The branch manager and three agents of life Care Infrastructure India limited, a chit fund company, were arrested and forwarded to court by Sundargarh police on Tuesday for a fraud to the tune of Rs 54 lakh.
They were identified as Dibyajyoti Meher (BM) from Kuchinda and agents Prakash Das, Mahendra Kishan and Dinabandhu Dungdung. Another agent accused in this case was identified as Mukteswar Meher. He had been earlier arrested and forwarded to court in another offence and is now in judicial custody.
According to sources, the chit fund company whose head office is in Kolkata was operating at Kuchinda under Sambalpur district from 2010 to 2013. During the time, it spread to nearby Sundargarh as well. As per the allegation of more than 70 villagers under Dharuadih police station in Sundargarh, they had been lured by the agents to make fixed and recurring deposits at higher rates of interest.
Even after the chit fund company had closed its operation in 2013, these agents continued to collect money. When the villagers could come to know that they had been duped, they went to Dharuadih police station and lodged complaint against them. Dharuadih police after registering a case, started a probe. The police could know that hundreds of investors had been duped of Rs 54 lakh in Sambalpur and Sundergarh districts.