CBI raids premises of another Odisha chit fund company

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Aug 4:

CBI officials conducted raids at several premises of Midas Touch Group of Companies (MTGC), a multi-state chit fund company, in the Odisha capital today.

Three teams of CBI conducted simultaneous raids at three places: the registered office of Midas Touch Assets and Securities Limited at Madhusudan Nagar in Unit-IV under Kharavela Nagar police station and branch offices of MTGC in Saheed Nagar and Nayapalli areas, sources said.

During the two-hour long raid, the team reportedly seized several incriminating documents which it said would help them during the interrogation.

Established in 2009 by Soubhagya Samal, MTGC has allegedly duped thousands of gullible investors and collected crores of rupees in the process after promising investors an annual interest of 24 percent on various term deposits.

The company has its presence in seven states across the country; Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Sources said MTGC has branches in eight places in Odisha:  Khurda, Chandikhol, Angul, Balasore, Berhampur, Sambalapur, Baripada and Jeypore and had duped thousands of investors of around Rs 500 crore.

Earlier, the investigating agency had raided the office of Navadiganta Capital Services Limited and the residence of its directors Pradeep Kumar Patnaik and Kartikeya Parida along with the houses of three politicians.

The politicians are Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Mayurbhanj Ramachandra Hansda, former BJD MLA from Keonjhar Subarna Nayak and former BJP MLA from Khariar Hitesh Kumar Bagartti.