Photo: Lingaraj Panda

WOMEN FURY: Agitated women gather in front of the company's office in Berhampur on Tuesday.

BERHAMPUR: A mob of angry women allegedly duped by a dubious commodity trading and pearls firm ransacked its office near old bus stand in the city on Tuesday.

Some women also took away the furniture and office stationeries at this office. The town police took the local manager of the firm and five of its employees into custody. The conned women claimed that the owner of the firm has taken away more than Rs. 50 lakhs from around 1,200 women of the district. More than 20 women have already filed police cases regarding the cheating.

Security deposit

To get some part-time income educated young women as well as destitute and widows in Ganjam district had made security deposits from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000 with this firm. According to the police, one R. K. Sharma, who claimed to be from Raipur had lunched the firm around six months ago.

Through local newspaper advertisements and agents he had attracted women to deposit money with the firm as security deposit to become members.

In return the women were given cheap plastic beads to make necklaces. The women were getting Rs. 100-200 when they were returning necklaces.

They were promised that they would get back their security deposit when they stopped working for the firm. But the owner of the firm vanished on Tuesday and the staff knew nothing about the money deposited and the whereabouts of the owner.

With plastic beads worth just a few rupees in hand hundreds of angry women like Lata Panigrahy of the city, who lost Rs. 11,000 and teenager Nirmala Sahu of Digapahandi, who has lost over Rs. 8,000 reached the firm searching for "Sharma", who had already vanished.

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