The Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) Court in Balasore on Saturday held the director of M/s Digital Revolution Technologies Ltd, Prince Kumar guilty of duping investors of Rs 1.5 crore and sentenced him to seven years of rigorours imprisonment.
This is the first conviction in Online/ Digital Ponzi cases in Odisha and one of the firsts in India, said the press note issued by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
While pronouncing the quantum of punishment, the OPID court also imposed a fine of Rs 3,33,000 on Kumar. In default of payment of the fine, the accused Prince Kumar will undergo further imprisonment of one year.
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The EOW arrested the main accused Kumar, a resident of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, from Vrindaban, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh on May 18, 2022.
A case under relevant sections of IPC, IT Act, Prize Chits & Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act and Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors Act was registered on the basis of an inquiry report relating to the allegation that from March 2020 onwards Prince Kumar and his company duped hundreds of investors across Odisha giving false assurances of high returns under its different schemes involving various digital/online products, and misleading them that this company was running successful Desi/ Indian version of WhatsApp, YouTube, Amazon, email, online/digital gaming, digital payment, Netflix, etc. kind of products.
They also issued forged documents and misappropriated the invested amount of around Rs 1.5 Crore from Odisha investors/victims alone.