Former Midas Group MD, wife held in chit fund case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested the former managing director of Odisha-based Midas Touch Group of Companies and his wife in connection with its investigation into a multi-crore chit fund scam.

Soubhagya Kumar Samal and his wife Nirupama Samal, former director of Midas Touch Group of Companies, were arrested from Gotri, Vadodara district in Gujarat, with the help of state police.

"Both the arrested accused persons were absconding since registration of the case by Odisha Police in 2013. A non-bailable warrant was also issued by a special CBI court in Bhubaneswar against them," the CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh told IANS.

The officer said the CBI took over the case in 2014 and filed a chargesheet on April 17, 2015.

The CBI had registered a first information report against Soubhagya, his wife and nine others for allegedly cheating investors to the tune of Rs 16.88 crore.

All the accused persons were booked under charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal misappropriation of property of the Indian Penal Code and sections under Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act.

The Supreme Court on May 9, 2014, ordered a CBI inquiry into the chit fund scams in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam in which various firms, including Saradha, allegedly duped investors collectively of around Rs 10,000 crore.