Cuttack: A motley group of six people have been accused of posing as a private financing company names Sanghamitra Micro Finance Company and cheating lakhs from various women Self Help Groups (SHG).
Complainant Pratipa Swain, of Mahamadia bazaar in Chandni Chowk under Lalbagh police limits, filed a complaint that Sanghamitra Micro Finance Company called meetings of several SHGs in different places of Cuttack from July 22-25 and offered them easy loans.
Their modus operandi was to target needy people who could easily be trapped. They would offer easy loans of upto Rs 40, 000 to each member of a SHG but they would have to pay the insurance amount of Rs 1520 first and 48 hours later loan amount will be debited to loanee’s account directly. They used to rent one office in the locality for a day or two. And once they collected enough money from that area they used to vanish.
Mrs Swain has alleged that on July 27, members of about 10-12 SHGs came to one Amit Ray’s house at CDA Sector 11 which also acted as the company’s office. As per her statement, Laxmi Narayan Group paid Rs 19,700, Satya Sai SHG Rs 15,020, Sunadei Group Rs 22,800, Mahavir Group Rs 24,500 and several lakhs from other groups. She filed the complaint on July 30.
Mrs Swain had named six people in her complaint- Ramakant Pattnaik (45), Anil Kumar Dalei (31), Prasanta Kumar Sahoo (42), Sanjay Rout (35), Smruti Ranjan Patra (31), Bipin Bihari Mahanta(26).
Cases have been filed at Chauliaganj and Dasapalla Police Station and a probe has been initiated. Additionally, a Non Bailable Warrant had been issued against Anil Kumar Dalei, one of the accused. Accordingly six people have been arrested and their verification has not been ascertained yet. However, seven smartphone, five normal mobile phones, five two-wheelers, one TV and another refrigerator have been seized.
