Sambalpur: Blowing the lid off a major multi-crore investment scam, Police have arrested a 36 year-old man on charges of financial fraud in Odisha's Sambalpur district. The accused was identified as Madhusudan Barai, a resident of Badabazaar in Sambalpur. Barai was held on grounds of duping people and master-minding a scam to the tune of crores. While initial probe indicates that the scam was worth around Rs 50 crore, police have so far detected illegal transactions to the tune of Rs 20 cr.

The fraud came to light after one of the fraud victims Rajkumar Panda and many others filed a police complaint on November 21 and accused Barai of collecting huge sums of money from them by assuring fast and lucrative returns.

As many as 47 fraud victims were found to have invested this amount which roughly translates to Rs 50 lakh per individual.

Police said Barai was operating an agency named A&A Enterprises Investment Returns from an office near NSCB College. He used to orchestrate the investment fraud by targeting gullible investors and luring them of easy profits. 

Fraud suspected to be to the tune of Rs 50 cr

Addressing mediapersons, SP Mukesh Bhamoo said Barai used to gain confidence of investors by creating fake agreement papers. After receiving money from them via cheques, cash and online transfers, he used to initially return profits in small amounts. The returns were mostly those of day-trading. Later, he stopped making the payments sparking suspicion of foul play among the investors.

After getting the complaint, police acted swifty and raided the accused's office leading to his arrest. "We are verifiying the accused's bank accounts and other assets to determine the fraud value. All electronic devices from his office have been seized. Till now, 47 people have been found to have invested in the scheme since 2023. Transactions worth Rs 20 crore have been verified but the fraud is suspected to be to the tune of Rs 50 crore. Investigation is still underway, the SP informed. 

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