Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch arrested a former MLA of Visakhapatnam (west) in Andhra Pradesh on charges of duping investors of crores of rupees promising lucrative returns. The YSR Congress leader Malla Vijay Prasad was arrested from his residence at Seethammadhara in Visakhapatnam Monday.
Sources in EOW claimed that Prasad, MD of Wellfare Building & Estates Pvt Ltd, in connivance with other directors, cheated gullible investors through various sham deposit schemes between 2009 and 2014. The company operated in Odisha through its offices at Bhubaneswar, Narsinghpur in Cuttack and Nayagarh.
Sources claimed that Prasad’s firm duped depositors of around Rs 1,200 crore. A case (12/2019) was registered by EOW in this regard based on a complaint lodged by Samir Kumar Sahoo of Kanpur area in Cuttack July 17, 2019.
In 2008, Sahoo came to know through leaflets that the firm had launched a number of highly profitable schemes. Later, he met the staff of the firm at its regional head office at Saheed Nagar. The company promised its investors to pay high returns or landed plot at Visakhapatnam.
The company initially paid the promised amount in the account of Sahoo to gain his trust. Following the payment, Sahoo, along with some of his relatives, reportedly invested around Rs 11 lakh in various schemes of the firm in 2012. However, they did not receive the promised amount from the
company.
The EOW sleuths, during the course of the investigation, found that the company, which was initially registered with ROC in Hyderabad, later shifted to Kolkata in 2011. The company’s head office was located in Visakhapatnam and registered office at Kolkata.
“The company collected huge amount running into crores from a large number of investors and absconded from the locality after closing their offices,” said EOW officials.
The accused MLA was produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Visakhapatnam who allowed the EOW to bring Prasad on transit remand Monday. The sleuths Tuesday produced him before the OPID court at Cuttack Tuesday.