BHUBANESWAR : The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch has arrested a mother-daughter duo from West Bengal for their alleged involvement in cheating around 34,000 investors of a whopping Rs 123 crore across six states of the country as well as neighbouring Bangladesh.
The accused, Dwipika Bhanjo and her daughter Tandra, were arrested on Tuesday and produced in an OPID court in Cuttack on Wednesday. The agency had registered a case on May 28 last year basing on the complaint of one of the investors Manmohan Dora of Bhubaneswar.
As per the complainant, Tusar Bhanjo, Dwipika’s husband and director of Harit Krishi Nidhi limited, had lured him and hundreds of other depositors to invest in his company on the promise of receiving high returns like monthly interest of 11 per cent, and 4 per cent to 5 per cent extra commission for adding new members in the ponzi scheme.
Crime Branch DG Vinaytosh Mishra said Tusar was arrested on June 4 last year. “During investigation, police ascertained that Tusar and his family members were shareholders-cum-directors of Harit Krishi. Out of the total swindled amount, Rs 41 lakh and Rs 43.67 lakh were transferred to the bank accounts of Dwipika and Tandra respectively.
However, the mother and daughter had been absconding since then,” he added. Mishra also informed that proceedings have been initiated to confiscate Tusar’s flat in new Alipore and a plot in Paschim Medinipur. EOW said the accused had assured the investors of providing monthly salaries of Rs 4,000 on investment of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 8,000 on deposits of Rs 8 lakh.
He used to organise meetings and promote the schemes on social media to attract investors. During investigation, EOW found out that Tusar had set up M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade private limited registered with ROC in Cuttack in 2023.
The same year, he started Harit Krishi Nidhi limited, which was incorporated with ROC in West Bengal. He had, however, opened offices of Harit Krishi in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam and other states in violation of the Nidhi rules.
As per the rules, a Nidhi company cannot operate beyond the state of its incorporation, said the EOW. Tusar reportedly collected deposits from about 10,000 investors in Odisha and cheated them. He has also duped the investors in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even Bangladesh. Sources said the money was reportedly siphoned off to Bangladesh and China.