Berhampur: Hundreds of investors in Patharpunji village under Sanakhemundi block in Ganjam district Sunday met Berhampur SP Asish Singh accusing a chit fund company of duping crores of rupees from them.
The duped depositors lodged a complaint and warned of agitation if their money is not refunded to them. They accused a woman of swindling their money on the promise of high returns.
The accused was identified as K Lalita Sridevi of Gandhinagar in Berhampur.
According to the complainants, Lalita with the help of a middleman arrived at Patharpunji village in 2011. She routinely visited the village and developed relationship with villagers. She allegedly visited each and every house in the village and lured them into investing in the chit fund. She cajoled them into depositing money in a chit fund company- Unimas Developers Limited in Kolkata.
Believing her, over 100 families in the village deposited money in the chit fund company. Likewise, families of neighbouring villages were duped of more than `2 crore. She ran a fake company in Gandhinagar and later shut shop before shifting it to her own house.
Suspecting foul play, locals approached her to return their money. However, Lalita cunningly took some depositors to Kolkata and kept them at a star hotel. She reportedly made them to take tour of the city and spent lavishly on them. She made them to meet some people who were introduced to them as the managers and employees of the chit fund company.
She even flashed out advertisements to make depositors believe in the chit fund company. She also promised them to provide plots in Berhampur when some depositors insisted on refund of their money. Since then, she began avoiding depositors and took shelter in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. The duped depositors called a meeting September 7, 2016 demanding immediate refund of their money.
Lalita instead threatened to deploy Kolkata goons to finish them, the depositors alleged in their written complaint. The matter came to light after locals with the help of government lawyer Pradeep Behera approached Berhampur SP and lodged a written complaint.
They requested the SP to expedite the investigation and provide justice to investors. They also sought identifying genuine depositors and initiating payments to them. PNN
