The Economic Offences Wing of Odisha police had taken up the investigation of the fraud case following the Orissa High Court’s intervention in 2018, while the fraud was perpetrated in 2015.
Representative Image (IANS)
The designated Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) Act Court in Cuttack on Wednesday convicted the mastermind of a fraudulent investment scheme and sentenced him to undergo ten years ‘ rigorous imprisonment for deceiving gullible investors to the tune of Rs 14 crore.
The accused, Pabitra Kumar Sahoo, was awarded the sentence under the relevant sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, the OPID Act, and the Indian Penal Code on the deposition of nine prosecution witnesses, including two investigating officers, said Biswajit Mohapatra, Special Public Prosecutor, OPID Court, Cuttack.
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The Economic Offences Wing of Odisha police had taken up the investigation of the fraud case following the Orissa High Court’s intervention in 2018, while the fraud was perpetrated in 2015.
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According to case records, M/s Vibgyor Allied Infrastructure Limited and its sister companies, having a registered office at Kolkata, opened a branch office at Suryanagar in Bhubaneswar.
The convict, Sahoo, representing himself as the Orissa Head of the company, deceitfully induced the public, including the complainant, to invest money in different schemes of the companies with the assurance of a higher return on the invested sum. The company, however, closed its office in 2013 and did not pay the maturity value of the investment made by the public. Later, the accused did not respond to the demands of the investors for a refund of their invested amount, prosecution counsel Mohapatra informed.
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