BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch on Thursday applied for three-day remand of former Visakhapatnam West MLA and chairman of Andhra Pradesh Education and Welfare Infrastructure Development Corporation, Malla Vijay Prasad, in connection with Wellfare Buildings and Estates Pvt Ltd chit fund scam in Odisha.
Prasad along with two directors of the firm are accused of duping more than 150 depositors to the tune of over Rs 2 crore in Bhubaneswar, Narasinghpur in Cuttack district and Nayagarh between 2009 and 2014.
Sources said Prasad’s wife is one of the directors of the firm and the EOW officers are probing if she is also involved in the chit fund scam in the State.
In 2013, Dhanupali police in Sambalpur had registered a case against Wellfare Buildings and Estates for allegedly cheating investors in the district by promising them residential plots. The police had later filed the charge sheet in the case in a court, said sources.
“Initial probe suggests Wellfare Buildings and Estates has cheated investors in other parts of Odisha too. We have started collecting information on the case registered against Wellfare Buildings and Estates at Dhanupali police station,” said an EOW officer, adding further investigation is on.