Ponzi company chief sentenced to 7 years RI in Odisha

PHULBANI: A court in Kandhamal district today sentenced the chief of a ponzi scheme company to seven years' rigorous imprisonment for duping depositors.

Besides the imprisonment, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Phulbani, Soma Sekhar Jena, also imposed a penalty of Rs 1.5 lakh on Romesh Chandra Pradhan, proprietor of Gramya Unayan Swayam Sahayak Gosti (GUSSG).

In case of non-payment of the fine amount, the convict would have to undergo additional jail term for 17 months.

According to the prosecution, following an FIR lodged by a group of 183 people, who had deposited money in GUSSG after being lured by its promise to multiply their deposits within months, Pradhan was arrested on February 11, 2012.

The company had collected money to the tune of Rs 9.80 crore from 48,402 depositors in the Kandhmal district during its operation period of about four years since 2008.