BALASORE: In a bid to escape CBI investigation into the multi-crore chit fund scam, managing director (MD) of Green Ray International Limited (GRIL) Mir Sahiruddin and one of his associates are planning to stay out of India.
Reliable sources said Mir has applied for renewal of his Nigeria visa. He has been hiding in either Nigeria or Dubai since last year after the company’s irregularities and involvement in the scam were exposed.
Green Ray is one of 43 chit fund companies in Odisha which are now under the CBI scanner following the Supreme Court directive. The company is accused of mobilising more than `700 crore from the State alone.
Sources said the Crime Branch or the CBI should contact the immigration office at Abuja in Nigeria and furnish the details about the fraudulent activities of the company and Mir.
GRIL has 41 branches in the State and 67 branches in 13 other states - Maharashtra, Goa, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat besides its international branch in Bar Dubai.
It is alleged that the GRIL bosses staying in Nigeria got their anticipatory bail extended from the Orissa High Court and they have been leading a peaceful life while thousands of gullible depositors have lost their money.
Though 13 cases were registered by the Crime Branch against the company authorities under various sections of IPC and Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Sonepur and Khurda districts, no attempt has been made by the Crime Branch to nab the accused.
Apart from the chit fund cases, another fraudulent activity of the company has come to the fore. Keonjhar-based Sahu Metalliks Pvt Ltd has lodged a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing at New Delhi alleging that Greenray Nigeria Co Ltd (GNL) had duped them of `2.95 crore which was deposited in its account to supply manganese ore.
Sources said there was an agreement between Sahu Metalliks and GNL for import of manganese ore from Nigeria which the complainant company would have sold in India on sole agency basis. The company’s MD alleged that though the money was deposited in GNL’s account, ore was not supplied.
Despite various attempts, neither the goods were delivered in India nor was any plausible explanation given about the delay in delivery, he said.
According to reliable sources, Sahiruddin and his associates have now incorporated a company in the name of Greenray International General Trading LLC, Dubai.