Balasore: A chitfund court here Monday sentenced Jagadish Mishra, the proprietor of ponzi firm Raj Godson Pvt Ltd, to five years in prison after convicting him in a case of fraud amounting to Rs 38.25 lakh. Mishra was also slapped with a penalty of Rs 3.81 lakh. If he fails to pay the fine, Mishra will have to spend another two-and-a-half years in prison, Judge Biswajit Das observed while delivering the order.
According to the case diary, Mishra opened a branch office of Raj Godsons Pvt Ltd at Mallikashpur locality in this town in 2010. He had stated that the head office of the firm was at Niladri Vihar in Bhubaneswar. Later on, he also opened offices in Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts.
Mishra lured people with attractive deposit schemes and said that the amount will be doubled in four years and increase four times in seven years. He also assured depositors that he will provide developed plots in this town and on the outskirts of Balasore and raised crores.
He, however, failed to return back the money to the depositors following which a number of them lodged complaints at the Town police station here. Subsequently, Mishra was arrested by the police. The court examined 49 documents and the statements of 17 witnesses and heard the case before passing the order. Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Kumar Panda pleaded the matter on behalf of the Odisha government.
Agencies
