Andhra Pradesh: Ex-YSRCP MLA Malla Vijaya Prasad arrested by Odisha police over 2019 chit fund case

VISAKHAPATNAM: Odisha police on Monday arrested former Vizag West MLA and YSRCP leader Malla Vijaya Prasad for his alleged involvement in a 2019 chit fund case. Sleuths of the economic offence wing of Odisha crime branch sought the assistance of Visakhapatnam city police for conducting the raid.
The 52-year-old Vijaya Prasad, who is currently the chairman of Andhra Pradesh Education and Welfare Development Corporation, will be produced before a magistrate and may be taken to Bhubaneswar for further interrogation.Odisha police have registered cases under sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471 and 120 (B) of the IPC, read with sections 4, 5 and 6 of PC and MC Schemes (Banning Act) of 1978 and section 6 of OPID Act of 2011 in connection with the alleged chit fund fraud.
Vijaya Prasad was previously with the Congress and joined the YSRCP before the 2019 general and assembly elections.
He won from Visakha West in 2009, but lost the 2019 elections to TDP’s PGVR Naidu (Gana Babu). There are allegations that he was involved in Rs 1,200 crore chit fund scam in which thousands of depositors from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana states lost their life’s savings.
In 2016, the CBI had searched his office and residential premises in connection with two cases of alleged chit fund scams involving hundreds of crores. During the searches, the central agency had seized 44.9 lakh in cash from his residence. At the time, the former MLA was the managing director of private firm Welfare Building and Estate Limited.