The Salepur police on Tuesday arrested a top official of a nonbanking financial institution, Zodiac Foundation, for cheating investors of over Rs 10 lakh after promising them hefty returns on their deposits.
According to the investors, the chit fund firm’s arrested official Niranjan Mallick alias Pahadia of the Salepur area had collected lakhs of rupees from women of the area through self-help groups (SHGs). When Mallick did not return the money, the investors lodged complaints against him with the police.
The company had given many offers, including doubling of the deposited money and highest interest on the deposits. It also befooled the gullible investors promising several facilities to the BPl families. On the basis of the complaint, the police arrested the chit fund firm official and forwarded him to the court. “Mallick, who had opened an office in the name of the Zodiac Foundation, duped investors of Rs 10 lakh in the name of his firm,” said Salepur IIC
Biswajit Mohanty.