Cuttack: A special chit fund court, here, on Friday convicted two persons in a case of cheating defence personnel of around Rs 29 crore and sentenced them to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) besides imposing a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on each convict.
As per the case, retired Colonel Rakesh Rana, chief of Sainik Welfare Organisation (SWO) India, had taken money from 542 serving and retired defence personnel for providing them land. He had also roped in Purna Chandra Panda, managing director of Brookson Infra Private Limited for the purpose.
But Rana and Panda neither provided the land nor returned the money amounting to over Rs 29 crore to the depositors. Later, the retired defence personnel filed complaints with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch.
After hearing the petitions, the court found retired colonel Rana and Panda guilty under Sections of 420 and 406 of Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (OPID) Act and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment.
