Police on Monday arrested Jagabandhu Panda, one of the directors of a Artha Tatwa (AT) Group firm which is now facing serious charges of duping thousands of investors across the State.
Panda, was a director of AT Group’s AT Multipurpose Cooperative Society and was arrested based on the information of group chief Pradip Sethi who is currently behind bars.
Interestingly, while he has been held for his links with the AT Group, he himself floated another firm Swastik India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd which police believe may have mopped up a cool Rs 50 crore from the market, mostly from the small investors.
Panda, with generous assistance from two former members of AT Group, founded Swastik India in 2011 while his association with AT Group was from 2008 to 2011.
Such was his expertise which he had picked up from Sethi’s firm that he created networks in various districts and managed to mobilise Rs 50 crore in no time.
His two associates Manoranjan Nanda and Ranjan Das are under police scanner.
Meanwhile, a director of Safex Infra India Ltd, another chit fund firm which was booked last September, was arrested by Crime Branch on Monday. S Chinmay Subudhi, the director, was held from Berhampur. Earlier, CB had arrested seven of Safex’s directors.