Cuttack: A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison by the Balasore OPID (Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors) Court for defrauding hundreds of investors of ₹1.13 crore through a fraudulent crypto investment scheme.

The convict, Nilesh Kar, was also fined ₹2.35 lakh by the court. In case of non-payment, he will serve an additional two years in jail.

The case was initiated based on a complaint filed by Mahamanya Jena, a resident of Sahadebkhunta. Per the complaint, Kar lured Jena into investing ₹2,13,038 between January and March 2023 through the Cloud Foot app and website, promising high returns. Jena was assured a payout of ₹50,57,117. However, the platform abruptly shut down, leaving him unable to recover his money. He subsequently filed a police complaint on April 5, 2023.

Investigations revealed Nilesh Kar was heading the Odisha operations of Cloud Foot and had duped over 400 people in the State by convincing them to invest in the app.

Nilesh reportedly gained their trust by showing a fake Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval letter and an appointment letter from Cloud Foot.

The EOW, which was entrusted the investigation, further uncovered the scam extended beyond Odisha, defrauding investors across India with promises of hefty returns from crypto investments through the Cloud Foot platform.