Odisha chit fund firm owner in CBI custody

A special court here on Sunday sent chit fund company Green Ray International Ltd. (GRIL) Managing Director Mir Shahruddin to six-day custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI had sought a 10-day remand of the accused in court.

The agency earlier brought Mir to Bhubaneswar on a transit remand from Kolkata, where he was arrested on Friday.

A native of Balasore district, Mir returned to India from Nigeria a few days ago on a Bangladeshi passport by impersonating as Ahmed Hussain, CBI sources said.

The CBI said GRIL tied up with a company in Nigeria where it acquired an iron ore mine on lease.

The dubious chit fund firm is accused of duping gullible investors of Odisha and 13 other states of nearly Rs 1,000 crore by promising good returns.

In October 2014, the Chhattisgarh Police had arrested another Grill director Ayub Shah from Ajmer in Rajasthan while he was trying to flee to Nigeria via Bangladesh.

The state Crime Branch, which was probing the case, confiscated 20.68 acres of land belonging to the company, besides freezing cash deposits of Rs 57 lakh in 46 accounts. The CBI took up the investigation in May 2014.

--IANS

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