The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the State Crime Branch on Saturday sought permission from the State Finance Department to confiscate assets of two chit fund companies, the Green Ray International and the Astha International Pvt ltd.
The EOW has submitted the lists of seized articles of the two firms, including property, land, gold, silver and luxury vehicles, to the Department. It has mentioned in the attachment that Astha International was functioning in Baleswar, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Puri and Brahmapur, while the Green Ray International was operating in north-eastern parts of the State. The two companies, a part of the grand multi-crore rupee chit fund scam have allegedly defrauded depositors of more than `500 crore, sources said. As per the provisions in the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors Act, Crime Branch ADG BK Sharma said, the property of fraudulent financial companies can be confiscated and money can be returned to depositors through a court’s intervention. Sharma said they had earlier sought the State Government’s permission to confiscate properties of five financial companies. , including the Flourish India, Saradha Group, Sastra Enterprises Pvt ltd and Seashore Group. last year, the CB had arrested Aastha International’s Odisha head Subhransu lenka and two other functionaries.