EOW of the Odisha Crime Branch arrested a person for duping investors of nearly Rs 50 crore in a Ponzi scheme.
· The accused, a resident of Kandagardi under Chandbali Police limits of Bhadrak was produced at the designated OPID Court in Cuttack.
· The EOW had registered a case following a written allegation against M/s Way to Add India Pvt. Ltd., and its managing director Mohan Kumar Parida and others.
· Operating from multiple offices scattered across strategic locations in Odisha the fraudulent enterprise cast a wide net, ensnaring investors from various walks of life.
· The EOW revealed the extent of the scheme’s nefarious operations, with over Rs 50 crore extracted from approximately 2,000 investors before the abrupt cessation of the fraudulent schemes.
In a watershed moment for financial regulation in Odisha, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch has successfully dismantled a complex Ponzi scheme, culminating in the arrest of Mohan Kumar Parida, the alleged orchestrator behind a fraudulent operation that siphoned off nearly Rs 50 crore from unsuspecting investors.
The saga began with a written grievance filed by Chitta Ranjan Palo of Kalinga Nagar, Bhubaneswar, who brought forth damning allegations against M/s Way to Add India Pvt. Ltd. and its managing director, Mohan Kumar Parida, alongside several accomplices. Palo’s complaint outlined a web of deceit spun by Parida and his associates, who enticed investors with the promise of astronomical returns. Under the guise of lucrative investment opportunities, Parida lured scores of individuals with the allure of a 26 percent monthly interest rate for three months, complemented by tantalizing bonuses and commissions across a spectrum of schemes.
Operating from multiple offices scattered across strategic locations in Odisha, including Prachi Vihar, Palasuni, and Rasulgarh, the fraudulent enterprise cast a wide net, ensnaring investors from various walks of life. Palo, among countless others, entrusted his hard-earned savings, amounting to Rs 44.60 lakh, only to be met with disillusionment as the promised returns failed to materialize. Faced with mounting grievances and financial losses, Palo sounded the alarm by filing a formal complaint, setting off a chain of events that would ultimately lead to the unraveling of Parida’s elaborate Ponzi scheme.
Further scrutiny by the EOW revealed the extent of the scheme’s nefarious operations, with over Rs 50 crore extracted from approximately 2,000 investors before the abrupt cessation of the fraudulent schemes. What initially began as a venture offering innocuous online recharge services and assorted consumer products evolved into a sophisticated financial ruse, camouflaged within a pyramidic-binary structure designed to exploit regulatory blind spots.
As Parida faces the full brunt of the law, his arrest serves as a stark reminder of the perils lurking within the financial landscape, necessitating vigilance and robust regulatory oversight to safeguard against the machinations of unscrupulous actors. This development also underscores the unwavering commitment of enforcement agencies in Odisha to uphold the integrity of financial markets and protect the interests of investors, thereby fostering an environment conducive to equitable economic growth and prosperity.
(With inputs from agencies)
