Prison terms for ponzi directors

Balasore: A special OPID (Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors) court here sentenced Monday each of the three directors of a ponzi firm to three years in prison after convicting them of defrauding depositors by luring them to invest in attractive deposit schemes. The convicts have been identified as Bijay Kumar Jena, 38, of Tikayatpur village, Kadu Marndi, 36 of Patharsahi village under Baisinga police limits and Somnath Naik, 32, of Tentulidinga village under Kulinga police limits. They were working as directors of ponzi firm ‘Shine India AgroIndustries Ltd’. Judge Biswajit Das also slapped a fine of Rs 1.21 lakh each on them, apart from the prison term. The three had opened an office of the firm at Betanoti Square in Mayurbhanj district. They used to lure people to invest money in various deposit schemes promising high returns. A complaint was filed before the Betanoti police, May 10, 2013. Betanoti police registered a case that was taken up for hearing in the Balasore OPID court. The judge passed the order after examining the statements of seven witnesses and 42 documents. This was stated by special public prosecutor Pranab Kumar Panda.