BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday went after Mid Touch Assets and Securities Ltd, another chit fund company operating in the State, as it conducted raids across five districts in connection with the multi-crore ponzi scam.
The office premises of the company in Bhubaneswar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Ganjam and Jajpur were searched by the CBI teams. The rented residential premises of its Managing Director Soubhagya Kumar Samal were also raided and the team is reported to have seized incriminating documents.
An eight-member team searched Samal’s Madhusudan Nagar office, which he had set up by acquiring space in the property of Surendra Prusty.
The sleuths checked the premises and took copies of the rent agreement executed by the company with Prusty.
Similarly, Samal had rented a flat in the same locality which was searched by the CBI. Another office space in the City was also raided.
Midas Touch Assets and Securities, which was listed as a company with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Cuttack in 1995, is believed to have mobilised deposits running into crores of rupees from hundreds of investors. Though it claimed to deal in real estate, life insurance as well as consultancy, Midas Touch Assets mostly dabbled in finance schemes.
The company’s papers show that it is registered office to be located in Bhubaneswar’s Madhusudan Nagar, but the official website says it is headquartered at Mumbai’s Andheri.
The agreement papers seized by the CBI revealed that Samal’s wife was also a director of the company, but in 2013, the board was reconstituted and other members were taken in. As per the details available with Registrar of Companies, the company’s authorised capital was `22 crore and the paid-up capital stood at `15.5 crore.
In fact, Samal also owed at least `3 lakh in rent to Prusty before he shifted his office and became incommunicado.