BHUBANESWAR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested former director of Lemon Entertainment Limited Mohammed Arif from Bhubaneswar for allegedly embezzling Rs 35 crore from ponzi firm Fine Indisales Private Limited.
The money, collected from thousands of people in the name of Fine Indisales, was reportedly invested in the film ‘Shadow’, which was produced by Mohammad Naseer alias Naseer Khan. He also acted in the film “Delhi-based Arif was evading arrest and hiding for quite a long time in Odisha,” ED sources said.
In 2009, Balasore police had detected the scam involving Fine Indisales, following which the state government had handed over the probe to the Crime Branch. The agency had then arrested Naseer Khan in connection with the case. Later, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to probe the case.
The ED had Earlier attached movable and immovable assets of Fine Indisales in Mumbai and Kanpur in 2014.
The attached assets included land worth Rs 19 crore in Mumbai. The chit fund company was running its business in Cuttack and Balasore and also in other parts of the country.
It was alleged that Fine Indisales had collected Rs 578 crore from several gullible investors across the country.