The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Sunday arrested the main accused in a multi-crore fraud from the posh New Ghana locality in Kolkata. The accused is Pratap Kumar Biswal, chairman and managing director (CMD) of the Mass Infra-realty Limited.
Later, he was produced in the designated court at Baleswar under the OPID Act on Monday after he was brought here on a transit remand from Kolkata.
Biswal had allegedly duped investors of more than Rs 15 cr on the pretext of providing them lucrative returns. Sources said that Biswal was arrested based on the complaint filed by one Sukadev Hota of Baleswar
The complainant had alleged that Biswal, CMD of Mass Infra Reality Ltd and Human Welfare Credit and Thrift Cooperative Society Limited, and its other six directors had duped him and several other depositors on the pretext of providing high rates of interest on their deposits under different schemes floated by their companies.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Mass Infra Reality Ltd was registered in Kolkata during September 2010 under the Companies Act 1956 having its registered office under the Barasat police station in 24 Praganas of West Bengal.
The accused Pratap Kumar Biswal was CMD along with six other Directors. In 2012, the company changed its name to Human Welfare Credit and Thrift Cooperative Society Ltd registered under Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2012 having its registered office at Laxmi Nagar in New Delhi.
The company, promising high returns, sought deposits from various investors under different schemes of the company and illegally collected huge amounts of money from several investors and absconded from the locality, the EOW said.