Balasore: The Special Judge of Odisha Protection of Interest of Depositors (OPID) Court Biswajit Das on Tuesday convicted two executives of a Ponzi firm and sentenced them to 5 years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) besides imposing a penalty of Rs 2.4 lakh each on them.
In default of the penalty, the two executives would undergo imprisonment for another three months the Judge ordered.
The convicts are Bichitrananda Das, the State coordinator and Basudev Samal, the Branch manager of the Balasore branch of Saradha Realty India LTD.
Both were involved in the Chit fund scam and were arrested by police after the registration of cases against them following complaints by the investors.
It was alleged that through their networks they have siphoned crores of rupees from the investors promising them high returns and other incentives against their deposits.
The branch operated in the town between 2010 and 2013. However, in the subsequent stage, the company neither gave any dividends nor returned their principal amounts.
“The multi-level marketing company siphoned investments from the gullible investors through different schemes including Saradha reality and Saradha tours and travels.
The accused duo were arrested by police following complaints in April 2013. Odisha Crime Branch’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) subsequently investigated the case.
They were tried under 420,406,465,467,471 and 120(B) of IPC and 4,5,6 of Prize Chits and money circulation schemes (banning ) Act,1978.
The court after examining 65 witnesses and 144 exhibits pronounced the verdict today, Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Panda said.
It is to be here that Saradha Realty India Ltd., a chit fund company having its branch office at Balasore, during the period 2010 to 2013 has illegally collected public deposits amounting to Rs.4.16 Crore from Odisha from 2,735 investors under its different schemes under the allurement of paying high returns over the invested amount.
The investigation of the case is still on for further investigation. CBI has also registered a case against the company.
