Odisha Police EOW arrests key accused in investment fraud from Bengal

Amit Mandal, a resident of Bankura district in West Bengal, was arrested by Odisha’s EOW on December 31 in connection with the elaborate fraud

Published on: Jan 3, 2026, 03:02:07 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The Odisha Police has arrested a man in West Bengal’s Bankura district on charges that he and his associates conned people into investing ₹120 crore for high returns before he disappeared, the Economic Offences Wing of the state police said on Friday.

EOW arrested Amit Mandal, a resident of Bankura district, on December 31 in connection with the elaborate fraud. He was produced before a Bengal court and brought to Odisha on a transit remand.

The racket started to unravel after Sushant Kumar Das of Khordha district filed a complaint alleging that Mandal and his associates lured him into investing ₹8.5 lakh between 2022 and 2024. To win his confidence, the accused signed agreements and issued post-dated cheques.

“The accused initially paid returns for a few months but later stopped payments and went missing ,” an EOW official said.

Das subsequently discovered that Mandal had allegedly collected crores of rupees from several investors across Odisha and misappropriated the funds.

Preliminary investigation revealed that between 2020 and 2024, Mandal and his associates lured 500 investors from Odisha and 100 from West Bengal to pour money into their share trading schemes.

EOW officials said Mandal organised meetings at hotels in Bhubaneswar and Angul to hook investors. Agreements and post-dated cheques were used to build trust.

Investigators found that Mandal collected money in the name of a non-existent entity, Kalpana Financial Services, and diverted funds through accounts linked to Kalpamit Consultancy Private Limited and personal accounts of his associates.

Officials said scrutiny of a single ICICI Bank account has revealed transactions worth approximately ₹122 crore. Other bank accounts are being verified.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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