Bhubaneswar: A court in Balasore district Wednesday sentenced a man to seven years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) after he was found guilty of fraud in crypto investment. The designated court set up under Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 2011, also slapped a penalty of Rs 2.35 lakh on convict Nilesh Kumar Kar.
He was convicted under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology (IT) Act. The case was registered April 5, 2023, and the accused Nilesh Kar was arrested April 6, 2023, from Balasore.
Mahamanya Jena of Balasore had lodged a complaint alleging that Kar had induced him to invest in an app/website to earn extra money. He had invested Rs 2,13,038 by depositing the same between January to March 2023.
When he was supposed to get RS 50,57,117 on his invested amount, suddenly the website stopped functioning and he could not withdraw the amount, Jena alleged. During investigation, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state Crime Branch found that it was a fake website developed for mining of crypto currency.
The modus operandi revealed that one has to invest a minimum of Rs 665 to become a member to get a return of Rs 1,487.25 after 37 days.
An investor was assured of earning about `40 daily on the invested amount. Kar, being the leader of the fake website for Balasore district, had induced more than 400 persons from the state, including Jena, to become members of the website, the EOW said.
The investigation also revealed that the convict showed fake authorisation letter from RBI. After collecting money, suddenly the wallet and the website were closed down. The convict along with other accused persons cheated the investors of Odisha Rs 1.13 crore, Special Public Prosecutor of the OPID Court, Balasore, said.
PNN
