A special court in Balasore on Tuesday sentenced two executives of a ponzi firm to five years rigorous imprisonment.
Special Odisha Protection of Interest of Depositors (OPID) court judge Biswajit Das convicted them under different sections of IPC and also imposed a penalty of Rs 2.4 lakh each on Bichitrananda Das and Basudev Samal.
Das was the state coordinator and Basudev Samal, was the branch manager of the Balasore branch of ‘Saradha Realty India’.
“The multi-level marketing company (Ponzi firm) siphoned funds from gullible people through different schemes including ‘Saradha realty’ and ‘Saradha tours and travels’.
The accused duo was arrested by police following complaints from investors in April 2013. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the state Crime branch subsequently investigated the case.
“The duo would undergo 5 years rigorous imprisonment and they also have to pay a penalty of Rs 2.4 lakh each,” said Special Public Prosecutor, Pranab Panda.
