Assets of firm run by actor Naseer Khan attached

BHUBANESWAR: Nearly five years after the first major chit fund fraud involving Fine Indisales surfaced in Odisha, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached the firm's properties worth over Rs 47 crore.
The fraud had created a flutter as the company was being run by Bollywood actor Naseer Khan.
"We have attached the company's immovable assets, including lands and buildings worth nearly Rs 19 crore in Mumbai.Bank deposits of about Rs 28 lakh in some accounts in Kanpur were also attached," said an ED officer. The central financial investigating agency has so far not traced any property of the company in Odisha.
"Our investigation is still on," the officer said. The officer could not reply as to why the central agency took so much time to attach the company's assets.
In July 2009, Balasore police had busted Fine Indisales. The state government subsequently handed over the probe to Crime Branch (CB), which arrested Khan on October 20, 2009. Though the CB initially estimated the fraud to be worth Rs 191 crore, it was later found that the firm collected over Rs 578 crore from nearly 2.40 lakh people across the country.
In 2011, a Bengaluru-based voluntary outfit moved the Supreme Court, seeking CBI probe into the case.
On December 12, 2012, the apex court ordered the CBI to probe it.
"Fine Indisales duped investors through a pyramid-style marketing scheme, which involved an internal re-distribution of wealth from new to old entrants. It operated with special offers of 1% return on the investment on a daily basis for the next 10 months. If one deposited Rs 10,000, he or she was promised Rs 100 a day. The CB and CBI have already filed chargesheets in the case," said a CB officer.
The ED has attached properties of Rose Valley Group of Companies and Seashore Group of Companies, whose alleged frauds are being probed by the CBI.