Cuttack: A special Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) court in Cuttack on Thursday awarded rigorous imprisonment of seven years and fine of Rs 5 Lakh each to seven people for defrauding depositors to the tune of Rs 8 crore by floating a ponzi firm.
The court's ruling came against two cases of fraudulence by the firm named Siddha Mahapurusa Money Society which was accused of misappropriating investors to the tune of Rs 8 Crore.
In the first case, the accused Bhagyabrata Rout and Duryodhan Bhuyan have been convicted Under Section-420 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo an rigorous imprisonment (RI) of seven years with a fine of Rs 5 lakh each. They have also been convicted under section-4/5 of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act and awarded rigorous imprisonment of two years. Both the sentences will run concurrently.
Another accused Jibandeep Rout handed over the same sentence as the above two has also been convicted under section-6 of OPID act.
Four others named in a related case Laxmipriya Rout, Mitanjali Rout, Sanjib Rout and Manoj Lenka were accused of duping Rs 4 crore from depositors through the society.
All four accused have been charged u/s-420 IPC (Seven years of RI and fine Rs 5 lakh each), u/s-6 of OPID act (Seven years of RI and fine Rs 5 lakh each) and us-4/5 of Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act (Two years of RI). And all the sentences will run concurrently.
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)