Microfinance firm’s MD held for Rs 109-crore fraud

The managing director of a private microfinance firm has been arrested in Odisha’s Sundargarh district for allegedly embezzling over Rs 100 crore on the pretext of giving loans, police said on Friday.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Odisha Police arrested Deepak Kindo, who was absconding for over a year and a lookout circular was issued, from his native Lulkidihi village in Talasara block of Sundargarh district on Thursday.

Kindo is the managing director of the Sambandh Finserve Pvt Ltd, which is registered with the Reserve Bank of India as a Non-Banking Finance Company-Microfinance Institution (NBFC-MFI).

The firm’s function was to raise funds from different sources to offer customised lending and financing solutions to the self-help groups and the weaker sections of the society who have little access to formal financial avenues, an officer said.

From 2015-2020, Kindo’s company had raised funds of more than Rs 109 crore from different investors or lenders on the basis of forged documents, the police officer said at a press conference.

Instead of giving loans to the desired group, he misappropriated the amount by diverting it to the personal accounts of him and his relatives, and Sambandh’s subsidiaries, the officer said.

Kindo’s wife, Amrita, has been arrested earlier for her alleged complicity in the case and is now in judicial custody, police added.