The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday (November 4) searched 10 premises in Odisha and West Bengal in a money-laundering investigation into an alleged investment fraud involving about ₹120 crore of depositors' money, officials said, The Hindu reported.
The searches, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), covered the premises of Kalpana Financial Services and its director, Amit Mandal, among others.
What is alleged
The case stems from an FIR by the Odisha Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). According to the ED, people were persuaded to invest on the promise that their money would be put into share-market and trading activities and would earn fixed monthly returns of 3.5% to 7%. The promoters collected about ₹120 crore from the public, the ED said.
Odisha TV, citing reports, put the figure at about ₹122 crore. It said the searches covered places including Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Angul, Mayurbhanj and Kolkata, and that complaints had come from people in Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Jagatsinghpur districts. The company allegedly ran several branch offices, with its head office in Odisha.
Earlier arrests
The EOW had arrested Amit Mandal in West Bengal on January 3 and another accused in Angul, Odisha TV reported. The ED took up the case because the alleged fraud ran across states.
Why it matters
A promise of fixed monthly returns of 3.5% to 7% works out to roughly 42% to 84% a year. The ED's money-laundering probe is meant to trace where the money went. The allegations have not been tested in court, and no response from the company or its director has been reported.