SAMBALPUR: A 36-year-old man accused of masterminding a multi-crore investment scam was arrested by Sambalpur police on Thursday.
Police said the accused, Madhusudan Barai of Chandan Nagar in Khetrajpur, duped dozens of people of nearly `50 crore. Barai was operating a firm named A&A Enterprises Investment Returns from a rented premises near NSCB College through which he duped gullible investors.
Briefing mediapersons, Sambalpur SP Mukesh Bhamoo said one Rajkumar Panda and several others lodged a complaint on November 21 accusing Barai of collecting huge sums of money from them by assuring lucrative profits. On basis of the complaint, police registered a case and started investigation.
Police said Barai created fake agreement-cum-acknowledgement papers to win the confidence of investors and received money through cash, cheques and online transfers. He reportedly returned small profits initially through day trading but later stopped payments altogether, leaving victims without their principal amounts or promised returns.
On being informed about the fraud, police raided Barai’s office and seized several electronic devices, including CPUs, LED monitors, keyboards and a printer. The accused’s bank accounts, properties and financial trail are being verified to determine the total volume of the fraud.
Bhamoo said the investment fraud is estimated to be around Rs 50 crore of which transactions worth Rs 20 crore have been verified so far.
“So far, we have tracked 45 individuals who invested in the scheme since 2023. The victims include his friends, business associates and even government employees. A detailed investigation is currently in progress,” the SP added.