Asha worker, daughter dupe women of lakhs in Odisha

BERHAMPUR: A 37-year-old Asha worker and her daughter are on the run after allegedly swindling lakhs of rupees from gullible women by taking loans in their names from various financial companies without their knowledge.

The accused, Kuni Pattnaik and her 19-year-old daughter Pinki of Rishipur village within Purushottampur police limits of the district are absconding since the last two months. The mother-daughter duo used to run a women self-help group (WSHG) comprising 60 women of the village where Kuni was the group leader and Pinki the account keeper.

Subasini Pattnaik, one of the victims of the fraud and member of the WSHG said the mother-daughter duo used to facilitate loans from various finance companies for the members of the self-help group. But the beneficiaries used to pay the loan amounts in time and seldom kept any debt. However last week, some finance company officials visited their homes asking them to repay their loans.