Post News Network
Baripada, April 20: A court in Mayurbhanj district Monday sentenced three officials of a chit fund company to rigorous imprisonment for three to five years and slapped a hefty fine on them for running fraudulent schemes under chit funds.
The court also issued a direction to realise the amount even if the convicts served jail term after default in payment.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Sahu sentenced India Info Star and India Info Line regional manager Diptikanta Behera to five years’ of rigorous imprisonment. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1 crore on Behera while the company’s branch manager and manager Gagan Patra and Subhendu Sekhar Panda respectively were sentenced to four years of RI and fined Rs 20 lakh each.
In default of payment, Behera would serve an additional 18 months in jail while in case of Patra and Panda the period
is six months each.
In a special order under section 421(1) of CrPC, the court directed that even if the convicts served the jail term after a default in payment of fine, the penalty amount has to be realised from them. Earlier, the court had convicted the trio under various sections of IPC and sections 4 and 5 of Prizechit (Money Circulation Scheme) Banning Act of the state government.
According to prosecution, the trio had floated two chit fund firms India Info Star and India Info Line at Betanati in the district in November 2011. Initially, India Infor Star had collected over Rs 1.32 crore from 65 depositors promising them to double their amount in one year. However, they closed down their offices exactly a year later.