Odisha chit fund scam: Chargesheet filed against MFL

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Feb 12:

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of CBI today filed a preliminary chargesheet in the case against the Micro Finance Limited (MFL) in connection with the  multi-thousand crore chit fund scam in Odisha.

Five persons, including the company’s former Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) Durga Prasad Mishra, his brother Upendra Mishra and son Kaliprasad Mishra, were named in the charge sheet filed by Investigating Officer (IO) in the case MK Saha and senior counsel K C Mishra  in the special CBI court here. The last two are yet to be arrested.

The other two persons named in the charge sheet are Ashok Patnaik and Baikunthanath Patnaik, both directors of the company, who have been arrested by the CBI.

The charge sheet, running into about 100 pages, including witness depositions and related documents, has slapped charges against the accused under several sections of the IPC, including 120 (B), 406, 409, 420, 471 of IPC and sections 4, 5, 6 of the Prize Chit and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978.

The preliminary charge sheet against the MFL group said it had duped investors of at least Rs 400 crore by floating six companies in the state: Micro Leasing and Funding (MLF), Micro Hotels, Micro Constructions, Micro Hospitals and Micro Media.

Upendra Mishra is the managing director (MD) of MLF while Kaliprasad Mishra is a director in the same company.

The chargesheet filed today is only a preliminary one to meet the statutory requirement of filing the chargesheet within 120 days and a supplementary chargesheet could follow, said sources in the CBI.

This is the third chargesheet filed by the CBI in the mega chit fund scam in Odisha which it is investigating as per the orders of the Supreme Court.

The CBI’s first chargesheet in the chit fund scam case was filed against Green India Private Limited on December 2 last year and the second against Artha Tatwa (AT) group on December 11.