Saradha Chitfund scam: Two officials awarded 5-year jail term in Odisha

Balasore: A local court in Balasore district awarded a five-year jail term to two officials of chitfund firm ‘Saradha Realty India Limited’ for duping investors of crores of amount.

Hearing a chitfund case today, the designated Odisha Protection of Interest of Depositors (OPID) Court Judge Biswajit Das convicted Saradha Realty India Limited’s Odisha Coordinator Bichitrananda Das and Balasore Branch Manager Basudev Samal under sections 467/468/420/406/120-B IPC r/w Sec.4/5/6/ of PCMC (Banning) Act & Sec.6 of OPID Act and sentenced them to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for five years and fine of Rs.2.4 Lakh each.

In default of paying fine amount, the convicts will undergo further imprisonment for a period of 3 months.

According to reports, Saradha Realty India Ltd., a chit fund company having its branch office at Balasore, during the period 2010 to 2013 had illegally collected public deposits amounting to Rs.4.16 Crore from Odisha from 2,735 investors under its different schemes alluring them of paying high returns over the invested amount.

The company was involved in illegal money circulation. The investigation of the case is still on by the CBI against the chitfund firm.