Odisha crime branch EOW arrests CA & wife for duping investors of Rs 20 crore

Bhubaneswar: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state crime branch on Tuesday arrested a chartered accountant (CA) and his wife from Gautam Buddha Nagar in Greater Noida for allegedly duping investors of nearly Rs 20 crore through unregulated deposit schemes and fraudulent share trading promises. The accused were identified as Chandra Sekhar Sahoo, 42, and Jharana Sahoo, 38.A cheating case was registered against the couple on Dec 8 following a complaint lodged by a duped investor from Talcher in Angul district. The complainant alleged that he invested about Rs 1.05 crore in the couple’s company between 2022 and 2024, lured by the promise of doubling his money within 30 months. When the promised returns failed to materialise, he approached EOW, seeking action.Investigation revealed that the accused initially paid small returns to gain the trust of investors but later stopped, citing “share market distress”. The company, floated in 2021, first operated from Handidhua in Talcher before opening another office in Patia, Bhubaneswar. The couple allegedly collected huge deposits from multiple investors, not only for their company but also for share trading.“To convince investors, Chandra Sekhar claimed he was channelling funds into diverse ventures such as real estate, retail marts, pearl culture, fish farming and hotel businesses. Deposits were routed into both company and personal accounts, while investors were issued fraudulent certificates and bonds,” SP of EOW, Dilip Tripathy, said. After paying returns for only a few months to select investors, the couple shut down their offices and absconded.Chandra Sekhar, who earlier worked as a CA with a central PSU, resigned to start his own company in 2021. “He later converted it from a private limited to a public limited entity and floated multiple unregulated deposit schemes, promising high returns — often claiming investments would double in 30 months,” Tripathy said.According to the probe agency, hundreds of unsuspecting investors from Odisha as well as cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi were duped. “As of now, the fraud amount has been ascertained to be around Rs 20 crore,” Tripathy said.