Based on the decision of special court Cuttack in Orissa, on 29th November 2016 Prakash Panda, Managing Director, Shiridi Sai Estate Ltd (SSEL) was sentenced to 5 years’ life imprisonment for cheating more than 150 people for a sum of Rs.1.5 Crore. He was convicted under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 2011.
It was in the year 2014 on 15th February, Panda was arrested for collecting and accumulating money with the promise that he will provide the investors’ plots near Bhubaneswar in easy instalments.
Few investors jointly filed a petition in High Court of Orissa against Shiridi Sai Estate Ltd (SSEL) and demanded immediate action when it failed to provide Promised Land or the money. In the court, the company agreed to refund the double sum of money taken from the investors in case they don’t provide the Promised Land to them. Shiridi Sai Estate Ltd was operating from 4 locations in Orissa which are Balasore, Bhadrak, Soro and Baripada.
Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act came into existence in the year 2011 in the month of December under which Prakash Panda got convicted. This law ensures that whomsoever the depositors are must get their due return in form of benefits and interest and are not covered under Reserve Bank of India Act provision.
Apart from the imprisonment of Prakash Panda, he was also slapped with another 1 lakh fine to be paid from his end and another 2 lakhs fine charged separately which need to paid by the firm. As per the statement of Subrata Mohanty public prosecutor, a wing of economic offences of crime branch in April 2015 registered the case against Prakash Panda based on the lodged FIR by L.K Panda along with others following the direction of Orissa High Court.
After completing the investigation, economic offence wing prepared the charge sheet against Panda to file in court for:
- Breach of trust
- Conspiracy
- Cheating
- Forgery
The public prosecutor also added in his statement that this was the very first trial which got over in special designated court for this case of deposit collection and Prakash Panda was found guilty by the court and was awarded jail and penalty both.