EOW ARRESTS DIRECTOR OF A NIDHI COMPANY FROM KOLKATA FORRUNNING PONZI SCHEME AND CHEATING AND MISAPPROPRIATINGMORE THAN Rs.123 Cr.

Bhubaneswar : Economic Offences Wing, Odisha, arrested the accused Tusar Bhanjo (DOB:18.03.1969) S/o Late Umesh Bhanjo Permanent Address: Hamirpur, Paschim Medinapur, West Bengal, A/P: Vivekanandapur Sporting Club, PS: Haridevpur, Kolkota , West Bengal, on 04.06.2024 from his residence under Haridevpur PS area, Kolkata in EOW PS Case No. 08, Dtd.28.05.2024 U/s 420/467/468/471/120-B IPC, Sec.4/5/6 PCMCS (Banning) Act, Sec.6 OPID Act rw. Sec. 66 (D) of I.T Act. The arrested accused was produced before the Hon’ble Court of ACJM, Allipore, Kolkata on 05.06.2024 and was brought to Bhubaneswar on the strength of transit remand. He will be produced before the Hon’ble Designated Court under OPID Act, Cuttack today i.e. on 08.06.2024. The case was registered on the written allegation of one Manmohan Dora of Bhubaneswar against the Company Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd., M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd. and its Director Tushar Bhanjo for inducing him and many other investors to invest with his company for high returns like monthly interest of 11% on the invested amount apart from 4-5 % extra commission on adding new members. The Company also promised to provide monthly salary of Rs.4,000/- on investment of Rs.4 lakhs, Rs.8,000/- on investment of Rs.8 lakhs and so on. In order to induce the investors, the accd. Director Tushar Bhanjo was using the social media, leaflet, brochures and physical meetings. Being induced, the informant joined the Harit Krishi Nidhi Company as a member by depositing Rs.4,000/- in the year 2023. Subsequently, the informant deposited Rs.2 lakhs in the Company’s bank account after which he was able to open 03 No. of wallet IDs in which he had deposited total Rs.2.17 lakhs and got 11% interest only for one month. Thereafter, no amount was paid to him by the accd. Director Tusar Bhanjo who absconded with the invested amount of thousands of investors including the informant. As found on investigation, the arrested accused Tusar Bhanjo who had earlier formed M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltd. registered with ROC, Cuttack, opened Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd. in the year 2023, which was incorporated with ROC, West Bengal. But, in violation of the Nidhi rules, he opened the offices
of the Nidhi Company in Odisha, Chhattishgarh, Assam etc. whereas the Nidhi Company cannot operate beyond the State of its incorporation. Further, chit fund activities although are prohibited in Nidhi Company, yet he ran the Ponzi scheme by inducing the investors and promising them higher interest apart from offering substantial commission for arranging new investors. For the purpose, he used the social media like You Tube and WhatsApp, leaflet and brochures and held meetings at different places. In this way, he collected more than Rs.123 Cr. from around 34,000 investors of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattishgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even of Bangladesh. After paying some few promised initial return @ 11% per month, the arrested accd. Director absconded with the collected amount from the investors and misappropriated the same by diverting to other interested accounts. Even, money has been siphoned off to Bangladesh and China.

 The arrested accd. Director Tushar Bhanjo, during the year 2023, first formed Transvision Dream Multi Trade (P) Ltd. and then Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd. which was incorporated with ROC, West Bengal with the accd. and his family members as its shareholders-cum-Directors.

 The registered office of Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd. is at Haridevpur, Kolkata where he has got another office also. The Nidhi Company has two offices at Kolkata and three more offices in other parts of West Bengal.

 A Nidhi Company is a kind of NBFC and formed to borrow and lend money to its members only and dependent on the principle of mutual benefits. It instils the habit of saving among its members.

 Nidhi Companies cannot deal with chit funds, leasing on finance, insurance business, security business and importantly cannot accept deposits from or lend to any other person except members. The members can borrow from the funds contributed by themselves at lower interest rates.

 Nidhi Company cannot open any current account with its members nor can it advertise for itself asking for a deposit.

 In violation of the Nidhi Rule, the Company has opened offices in Odisha, Assam and Chhattishgarh. In Odisha, the company had its offices at Balasore, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

 This Nidhi Company in violation of the Nidhi rule has collected deposits under inducement from around 34,000 investors of Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra and also of Bangladesh.

 In order to promote its activities and induce the investors, the Company was advertising in the social media, distributing the leaflet and brochures and holding meetings of the investors at different places of the above States urging them to invest behind the mask of Nidhi Company.

 For being a member, one has to deposit Rs.4,000/- in the account of the Nidhi Company after which the member was being asked to open wallet IDs in Transvision Dream Multi Trade (P) Ltd. that will show the total amount earned by the member. But, the amount reflected in the wallet ID can never be withdrawn.

 The investors’ amount was being deposited in three of the current accounts of the Nidhi Company maintained with Axis Bank, Bandhan Bank and Yes Bank from where the money was being diverted to many other accounts mostly to the accounts of the family members of the arrested accused.

 The Company has promised to give 11% interest per month on the invested amount and 34-35% bonus on adding the new investors which is nothing but a Ponzi scheme run on the facade of Nidhi Company.

 Initially, the company paid very few returns as promised and that to from the money collected from the new members joining the scheme.

 The Company was running a pyramidic structured Ponzi scheme by creating chain in the downline by recruiting new investors. The investors were being asked to arrange new members for exciting bonus which is nothing but the running of Ponzi scheme which is strictly prohibited on the part of Nidhi Company.

 The said amount collected from investors was invested in Forex Trading by opening pool account by the Company with the motive to get a return of additional 20% on the invested amount which the investors were not aware of.

 As found, the arrested accd. Tusar Bhanjo had made pleasant trips to Dubai and Bangkok from the invested money of the investors.

 The investors’ money has been diverted to the personal account of the arrested accused and also to the accounts of his family members. Some property has also been created by the arrested accd. from this amount.

 The accused has failed matriculation, and got at least 10 accounts maintained in his name with different banks. He was even contemplating over forming a Company at Dubai.

 This is probably the first Nidhi Company Fraud in Odisha. During investigation, many incriminating clues have been arrived at and many incriminating materials have been seized those include mobile phones, banking credentials, cheque books and documents of Harit Krishi.

The investigation of the case is on.