The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha crime branch filed charge sheet against the NGO Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA) and its sister concern Credible Microfinance Private Limited (CMPL) at the court of Additional District Judge (1) in Berhampur for their involvement in alleged Ponzi scam.
Prime accused
Chairperson of BISWA and CMPL, Khirod Mallick and his son Debabrata Malick were named as prime accused in this charge sheet filed on Monday in relation to this alleged illegal chit fund scam. Khirod happens to be brother of ruling BJD party MLA and former State minister Pramila Mallick. As per the charge sheet, BISWA and CMPL are alleged to have duped 412 crore rupees from investors.
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Khirod had been arrested on Oct 27, 2014 on charges of floating unlicensed money circulation firms. He along with his son is now lodged in Berhampur circle jail. As per the EOW of State crime branch, Khirod and his son had collected deposits from people through various wings of the NGO BISWA and the non-banking financial organisation CMPL.
Although not authorized by the Reserve Bank of India to collect deposits, these organisations had collected investments from people through lures of high interest rates between 2006 and 2012. It was alleged that these organisations had promised to double the deposited money in two and half years. In 2012, Gajapati district administration received complaints from some investors and initiated a probe into Khirod's organisations. In 2013 the RBI had cancelled license of CMPL.
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Meanwhile, the EOW of State crime branch has proposed finance department to attach properties of two money circulation companies owned by Khirod.