Ponzi firm MD arrested for duping investors of Rs 50 Crore in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Odisha, arrested Mohan Kumar Parida on charges of duping investors of approximately Rs 50 crore through his company’s ponzi schemes.

The accused Mohan Kumar Parida of Kandagardi village under Chandabali police limits in Bhadrak district was arrested under sections 406/420/467/468/471/120-B IPC, Sec. 4/5/6/ PCMCS (Banning) Act, Sec.6 of OPID Act r/w Sec.66 IT Act.

He will be produced before a Court under OPID Act in Cuttack today.

The EOW initiated an investigation on a written complaint lodged by one Chhita Ranjan Palo of Kalinga Nagar against the company Way to Add India Pvt. Ltd, its Managing Director Mohan Kumar Parida and others for cheating investors under different ponzi schemes.

According to reports, Parida through his company was asking investors for investments alluring them of high returns of upto 26% interest per month for 3 months on the invested amount apart from promising 2% bonus and commission under different schemes floated by his company. The complainant had deposited Rs 44.60 lakh during the year 2023 and initially received the return of Rs 12,600. Thereafter, he got nothing.

Mohan Kumar Parida had set up the company M/s Way to Add India (P) Ltd and his wife Pushpalata Behura was the Director of the company. The firm was registered with ROC, Cuttack during the year 2020, having its registered office at Prachi Vihar, Palasuni, Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar. The basic objectives of the Company are to deal with online recharge services like mobile, DTH, air ticket, bus ticket etc. and FMCG products.

During the period 2020-23, Parida floated different schemes like Autopool package, boosting package etc. and induced the members of the public to invest with the company through its two schemes to get hefty returns i.e. 26% per month consecutively for 03 months on the invested amount. Besides, there was the bonus of 2% for the investors for enrolling new members. As per the norms, one can join the schemes by depositing Rs 2500, which is non-refundable and after depositing the amount, the investor would be given a login ID under which the investor can further enroll three persons to get more commission or bonus. Once an investor joins the scheme, initially, he was given the Ayurvedic products of Rs 500, the EOW said today.

To win the confidence of investors, Parida made some initial return to investors. However, he abruptly closed the schemes and company after collecting more than Rs 50 crore from 2000 investors across Odisha. He fled away with the collected amount, which was misappropriated by him, the EOW revealed.

During the probe, the EOW found that the company was not authorized to take any public deposit either by RBI or SEBI. The company cunningly was not issuing any money receipt rather asking the investors to deposit the invested amount in the company accounts.

The EOW during the investigation seized a laptop containing many incriminating materials like list of investors, the amount invested, payment sheet etc.