Khaira: A non-banking financial company (NBFC) has allegedly fleeced over 7000 people to the tune of Rs 23 lakh in this area of Balasore district.
Locals alleged that the company collected money from them through panchayat-level and block-level coordinators. Now the intermediaries are in a lurch with depositors demanding their money back. With no option left, those who assisted in the collection of money for the NBFC have filed a complaint at the Khaira police station and staged a dharna Wednesday.
Coordinators like Achyutananda Jena, Jagannath Prusty, Bansidhar Pati, Jagabandhu Behera, Subrat Sahu, Prabhakar Rout and Gadhadhar Panigrahi warned of hunger strike if legal measures are not taken against the NBFC named ‘Runa Mukti Abjiyan’.
They said that the company had collected membership fees of Rs 325 each from a large number of people 10 months back on the pretext of giving high interest returns and providing quick loans at affordable rates. In this manner the NBFC collected around Rs 23 lakh through 44 coordinators in Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak. The coordinators said that they were getting a salary of Rs 15,000 per month.
They informed that more than 7,000 persons registered with the NBFC as members. However, when people started asking for loans, the representative of the NBFC closed down the office and vanished suddenly.
Those who had registered with the NBFC are no holding the coordinators responsible for the loss. With nothing materialising so far, these middle men are now demanding that Odisha Crime Branch probe the alleged fraud.
PNN