Special court makes first conviction in Odisha chit fund scam

Cuttack: The special chit fund court set up to conduct hearing on the multi-crore ponzi scam in Odisha, made its first conviction today.

The court convicted chit fund company Shirdi Sai Real Estate’s MD, Prakash Panda. Panda has been sentenced to a jail term of 5 years along with a fine of Rs 3 lakh.

Notably, Prakash was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch over allegations of fraud to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore made against his company.

"Under the Section 6 of Odisha Protection of the Interests of the Depositors Act (OPID) the court has awarded the jail term and fine," said special government counsel, Subrat Mohanty.