BHUBANESWAR: In the first-ever conviction in the Odisha mega chit fund scam, a special CBI court here on Tuesday sentenced a former managing director of Eshore Developers Ltd to two years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 72,000 on him.



Gouri Sankar Parida was accused of cheating hundreds of investors of more than Rs 1 crore. However, the CBI managed to substantiate a fraud only to the tune of Rs 4 lakh against him.



"This is the first trial to be completed in the chit fund cases in which an accused has been convicted. The CBI had registered the case on June 5, 2014. The CBI had earlier taken over the investigation of FIR No. 102 dated June 3, 2013, registered at the Baliapal police station in Balasore district," said a CBI release.

CBI sources said Eshore Developers Ltd was registered with the registrar of companies in Cuttack on September 19, 2011. "Within a short period, the company allegedly lured a number of depositors from Balasore district by promising them of high returns and, thereafter, misappropriated their investments. The company's operations were mostly confined to Balasore," said a CBI officer.

On completion of the investigation, a chargesheet was filed on September 30, 2015, in the court of special chief judicial magistrate (CBI) under Section 120-B/409/420 of the IPC and Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, against Parida.

Last week, Parida was produced in the CBI court, where he resorted to theatrics. "With folded hands, Parida confessed to his crime before the judge and pleaded for a jail term," said another CBI officer.

The CBI, which started its probe in June-July 2014, has so far submitted chargesheets against Green India Infra, Artha Tatwa Group, Seashore Group, Micro Finance, Nava Diganta, Midas Touch and Zodiac Foundation. It has until now arrested 29 persons, including ruling BJD MLA Pravat Tripathy and Mayurbhanj MP Ramachandra Hansdah in separate chit fund scams.