Bhubaneswar, Jan 2 (AHN) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police has arrested the main accused in a Rs 40 crore share trading fraud case from West Bengal, a senior official said on Friday.

The accused was identified as Amit Mandal, a resident of South Boilapara under Bishnupur police station area in Bankura district of West Bengal.

He was arrested on December 31, 2025 in connection with a case registered over the allegations of Sushant Kumar Das of Odisha's Khordha district.

Das alleged that the accused Mandal, along with his associates, induced him to invest in share trading by assuring returns of around 3.5 to 7 per cent per month.

The accused persons also executed an agreement with Das, apart from issuing post-date cheques (PDCs) to win his confidence.

Lured by Mandal and associates, the complainant Das deposited Rs 8.5 lakh during the period 2022-2024.

The deposit was taken through the personal accounts of the accused Amit Mandal, who was claiming to have one entity namely "Kalpana Financial Services".

Das also alleged that although the returns were paid to the victim for a few months initially, they were later stopped and the accused Mandal absconded.

Subsequently, the complainant also came to know that Mandal had also cheated several other people in Odisha, misappropriating deposits worth crores of rupees.

The EOW sleuths during the course of investigation ascertained that the accused Mandal along with some of his associates induced the general public to invest with him for Share Trading to get high monthly returns ranging from 3.5 to 7 per cent.

In order to induce the general public to give deposit, Mandal in connivance with his agents/associates in Odisha arranged several meetings in different hotels at Angul and Bhubaneswar.

The accused Mandal also executed agreements with the depositors apart from issuing PDCs.

"The accused Amit Mandal during the period from 2020-2024, by inducing around 500 depositors from Odisha and 100 depositors from West Bengal has collected more than Rs 120 crore. At present, he has to return the invested amount of more than Rs 40 crore. He used to pay the monthly returns from the successive deposits of the depositors. During 2023, the accused failed to pay the returns and falsely assured the depositors that their money will be reinvested in his newly formed company Kalpamit Consultancy Private Limited. But later he absconded, throwing the depositors into despair," the senior EOW official added.

Mandal used to collect the deposits in his personal accounts maintained with ICICI and HDFC bank for Share Trading in the name of Kalpana Financial Services, which is purely non-existent.

He has also collected some money through the account of Kalpamit Consultancy Private Limited and in the personal account of some of his associates.

The Odisha police during the probe found a transaction of Rs 122 crore in the ICICI account of the accused Mandal.