BALASORE: The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Mayurbhanj district Sanjay Kumar Sahu on Monday convicted three senior employees of a non-banking financial company (NBFC), India Info Star Limited, for cheating depositors of crores of rupees by promising hefty returns.
While regional manager of the NBFC, Diptikanta Behera, has been sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI), branch manager Gagan Patra and manager Subhendu Sekhar Panda have been sentenced to four years of RI each. The court imposed a fine of ` one crore on Behera while Patra and Panda have been directed to pay a fine of `20 lakh each. On default of payment, Behera would have to undergo another 18 months in jail while Patra and Panda would undergo another six months each.
According to the prosecution, the three had floated the company at Betnoti in the district in November 2011 and changed its name to India Info Line in 2012. They, however, shut down the branch offices in 2013 after collecting crores of rupees from depositors promising to double their investment in one year.
The three were arrested after a depositor of Betnoti Kalakar Mohanta, who was duped of `10 lakh by the company, lodged a written complaint against the employees on February 4, 2013. Preliminary investigation revealed that they had collected over `1.32 crore from the depositors.
The court, however, directed that even if the convicts served the jail term on defaulting payment of fine, the amount has to be collected from them under Section 421 (1) of CrPC.