Berhampur: Police here Monday arrested the director of a ponzi firm on charges of defrauding over Rs 7 crore from hundreds of investors in Ganjam district. The accused was identified as Trinath Panda, director of the Jagannathprasad branch of finance company, ‘Green India Private Ltd’. He had been absconding and was finally arrested by the police after the issuance of a non-bailable warrant from a court here.
Later in the day, he was produced in a court. Panda applied for bail, but was remanded to judicial custody after ADJ (LR) Raj Kumar Das rejected his plea following opposition by government pleader Bijay Pradhan. The judge directed the police to file up to date case diary in the court as quickly as possible.
Police said the finance company had its head office at in this town while one of its branch offices was functioning at Jagannathprasad. The accused through agents lured gullible people to deposit huge amounts promising to double the money in a short span of time. Panda also lured people to invest money in the company by promising them to provide plots of lands. The matter came to the notice of the police after depositor Banamali Mohanty who had invested over Rs 10 lakh in the ponzi firm lodged a complaint with Jagannathprasad police, IIC Dillip Kumar Swain said. Police registered a case and started an investigation. Earlier, police had arrested four persons in this connection but failed to arrest Panda as he was absconding. Further investigations were on, the IIC said.