The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Sunday arrested chit fund firm Ashirbad Multipurpose Cooperative ltd chief executive officer (CEO) Swetang Patnaik on charges of duping gullible investors of about `10 crore promising them high rates of interest.
The accused was forwarded to the designated court in Cuttack.
Patnaik was also the managing director of Ashirbad Multipurpose Cooperative ltd’s sister concerns like Ashirbad Multi Trade Pvt ltd, Ashirbad Multitech and Infracon ltd, Ashirbad Goat Rearing India ltd and Ashirbad Future Care.
According to EOW reports, Patnaik along with other directors of the company, having its corporate office at Paiknagar near Delta Square in Bhubaneswar, had collected deposits of Rs 10 crore. later, the company closed down its offices without refunding the invested amount of the depositors.
Initially, a case was registered against Patnaik at the Olatpur police station last year. One Deepak Kumar Baral of Kantapada in the Adaspur area had filed an FIR against the company at the Olatpur police station in Cuttack district. later, the matter came to the High Court, which directed the EOW for probe and action.