Former MLA and YSRCP leader Malla Vijaya Prasad was arrested by Odisha police on charges of being involved in a Rs 1250 crore worth chit fund case. The former MLA of Visakhapatnam West Zone owns Wellfare Buildings and Estates Pvt. Limited which has duped thousands of depositors from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, failing to return their money even after maturity of the scheme. In addition, the company bought land in Odisha but failed to provide plot to the investors. A fraud case was lodged against him in 2019 for failing to return the money. Malla Vijaya Prasad was recently appointed as the chairman of Andhra Pradesh Education and Welfare Development Corporation by the YSRCP government.
He was arrested after the Economic Offence Wing of Odisha police which had sought the assistance of Vizag police and conducted raids at his residence and later arrested him. He was taken to King George’s hospital for a medical check up before being taken to Bhuvaneshwar on a transit remand for further interrogation. This is not his first brush with the law as in 2016 CBI had searched his office and residence in connection with two chit fund cases. He was then the managing director of Wellfare Building and Estate Private Limited which has branches in neighbouring states as well. Apart from dabbling in real estate he was also involved in producing movies. He had won the Visakha (West) seat on a Congress ticket in 2009 but joined YSRCP before 2019 election. He however, lost his seat to the TDP candidate PGVR Naidu.