Balasore: A court in Odisha’s Balasore Thursday sentenced the branch manager of a chit-fund firm to three years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) for duping investors.
Biswajit Das, special judge of the designated court under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act (OPID), 2011, convicted Sangram Kesari Patra (41), the manager of Udala branch of Kolkata Weir Industries Ltd, a multilevel marketing company, and sentenced him to three years RI along with Rs 61,000 penalty, said special public prosecutor Pranab Kumar Panda.
Patra will have to spend an extra nine months in jail in case he failed to deposit the fine, the court ordered.
According to the prosecution, Patra was arrested by Udala police of Mayurbhanj in 2013 on the basis of an FIR lodged by an investor, who was duped by the company.
Instead of giving returns and returning the principal amounts of investors, the firm closed down its branch office and its officials fled from the place.
PTI
