The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the State Crime Branch police on Tuesday wrote to the Finance Department seeking its approval to attach the property of chit fund firm AB Realtech Services ltd.
The EOW sought permission to attach half an acre of land owned by the company under Section 3 of the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act 2011, sources said.
It may be recalled that company MD Budi Keshabananda Patra was arrested by the EOW from Visakhapatnam in June last year.
Patra was booked under Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (forging documents), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 and Section 6 of the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) Act 2011.
Patra was accused of duping investors to the tune of Rs 5 crore by promising them high returns on their invested money.
The AB Realtech Services, headquartered in Bhubaneswar, was registered in 2010 and collected money from investors from across the State. After operating its business for over five years, the company downed its shutters without repaying the investors.
Based on a complaint lodged in January 2014, the EOW was on the lookout for Patra who was absconding since the police complaint was filed against him and other officials of the company.
Patra, a native of Badabazar in Brahmapur, was holed up in a hotel in Visakhapatnam under a fake identity.