Chit fund scam: Saradha's office closed in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Econmic Offence Wing of Odisha Police today sealed office of Saradha Group at Balasore while the district administration of Kendrapara decided to involve panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) to create awareness among people against investment in chit fund companies.

A team of the EOW which had been camping at Balasore for the last three days in presnce of the magistrate sealed office of Saradha Group at Fakir Mohan Gole at Balasore after seizing some of the documents.

The team also recovered hardware of the company's several computers for verification, an official said.

Meanwhile, the EOW continued to record statements of the people who claimed to have invested in Saradha Group. The team was expected to visit Puri from Monday as many people in the holy town also complained of being duped by the Kolkata based chit fund firm.

Meanwhile, the distrct administration of Kendrapara today decided to involve PRIs and issue advisories to village level leaders requesting to spread awareness on risk involved in dubious chit funds and financial companies.

The district administration's decision in this regard came after a large number of people of coastal Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur area lodged complaint against one DP Company which allegedly closed its offices after collecting about Rs 4 crore from farmers and daily laburers.

"It has been often found that major portion of rural people are ignorant and hence are easily lured by chit funds. The PRI bodies would be called upon to convince the people to abstain from dubious NBFCs, chit funds," said Kendrapara Additional District Magistrate, Ashok Kumar Panda.

The panchayat bodies with their mass base could influence the people not to dabble in risky investment plans, Panda said adding that their efforts would be to encourage the people to invest their hard-earned money in government-sponsored small investment schemes, Panda added.