The Additional Sessions Judge (II) Court here on Monday remanded Khirod Mallick, head of Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA), an NGO based in Sambalpur, to judicial custody.
A three-member team of Crime Branch (CB) officials had produced Mallick in the court after the completion of his six-day remand. ADJ Chintamani Panda remanded him to judicial custody after rejecting his bail petition. Mallick was later sent to the Brahmapur Circle Jail.
The Crime Branch police, in the course of their investigation, have found out that while Mallick has taken loans to the tune of Rs 231 crore from several nationalised and overseas banks, he has only Rs 3 lakh left in his accounts. “Despite several reminders from the banks for repayment of the loan, Mallick had been cheating them with the plea that the entire amount has been given away as loans to several self-help groups (SHGs) which have defaulted on repayment,” informed a CB official.
He also said that Mallick, during interrogation, had failed to give the details of the amount of loans and financial assistance given to the SHGs. There was also no document relating to the financial transactions with these SHGs, he said.
“Besides, Mallick, when asked about the investment of money taken as loan from various banks, had told us that it has been given to the people who are yet to return the money. He had also said that there is no official document on the loan amount given to the people. We suspect that Mallick might have deposited the money in some nationalised and overseas banks,” the official added.
Apart from this, the BISWA had invested huge amounts of money collected from the people through equity shares but has not returned such investments to them till date, CB sources said. Mallick has registered seven companies with the BISWA. These companies are being managed by his relatives as directors.
The NGO has withdrawn Rs10.87 crore from these companies towards payment of salary, house rent, electricity bill and other miscellaneous expenditure. It may be mentioned that the Gajapati district Collector and Sub-Collector had submitted their report to the Crime Branch, during CB officials’ recent visit to the district.
In the report, it was stated that though the district administration had asked the
BISWA not to indulge in any financial activities in the district, the latter had continued its activity. Meanwhile, the CB has begun investigation into the political link of Mallick and utilisation of Government machinery in the massive financial fraud. Mallick is the brother of Binjharpur BJD MlA and former Minister Pramila Mallick.