Court sentences man to seven years imprisonment for cheating investors

Balasore: A court in Odisha’s Balasore district Wednesday sentenced a man to seven years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of defrauding investors.

The designated court set up under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 2011, also slapped a penalty of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict Nilesh Kumar Kar.

The case was registered April 5, 2023, and Nilesh was arrested April 6, 2023, from Balasore.

Mahamanya Jena of Balasore had lodged a complaint alleging that Nilesh Kar had induced him to invest in an app/website to earn extra money. He had invested Rs 2,13,038 by depositing the same between January to March 2023, according to the complaint.

When he was supposed to get Rs 50,57,117 on his invested amount, suddenly the website stopped functioning and he could not withdraw the amount, Jena alleged.

During the investigation, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) under the Crime Branch of Odisha police found that the website was a fake website developed for mining of cryptocurrency. One has to invest a minimum amount of Rs 665 to become a member to get a return of Rs 1487.25 after 37 days. An investor was assured of earning about Rs 40 daily on the invested amount.

The convict Nilesh Kar, being the leader of the fake website for Balasore district, had persuaded more than 400 persons of Odisha including Jena to become members of the website, the EOW said.

The investigation also revealed that the convict showed fake authorisation letter from RBI. After collecting money, the wallet and the website were shut down. The convict along with other accused persons, cheated the investors of Odisha Rs 1.13 crore, Special Public Prosecutor of the OPID Court, Balasore, said.

PTI

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