Shastra Chit Fund Scam Convicts Awarded 7 Years In Jail

Balasore: Judge Biswajit Das of the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) court Tuesday convicted four persons in the ‘Shastra’ chit fund scam involving Shastra Enterprise Pvt. Ltd.

The court convicted V Sampat and Mallikarjun Raju, managing director and director of Shastra Enterprise Pvt. Ltd., respectively. The duo was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and fined Rs 4.21 lakh each.

Two other accused, Sadashiv Nayak of Kusuda in Mayurbhanj and Tapan Barik of Takatpur Baripada were sentenced to three years of imprisonment and fined Rs 60,000 each.

However, the court acquitted Partha Sarathi Jena, the owner of the house where Shastra’s office is housed.

Kshirod Chandra Barik, a resident of Baripada town, had filed a complaint against the fraudsters in the local Town police station and a case (301/2.11.2020) was registered.

Later, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch, which arrested V Sampat and Mallikarjun Raju on charges of duping 10,237 people of Rs 4.83 crore.

The court examine 57 people and 79 documents during the trial and gave its verdict on Tuesday. Pranab Kumar Panda, Special Public Prosecutor of the Chit Fund Court and senior lawyer, represented the prosecution in the case.