First conviction in chit fund probe; company MD sent to jail

A special CBI court in Bhubaneswar has convicted the Managing Director of chit fund company Eshore Developers Private Limited, making it the first conviction in the chit fund scam being probed by the agency.
The court has sentenced Gauri Shankar Parida, the then Managing Director of the Balasore-based company, to undergo two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 72,000.
"This is the first trial which has been completed in the chit fund cases being investigated by CBI and ended in conviction," a CBI spokesperson said here today.
The company has duped only 20 persons with total amount duped being Rs 4 lakh, the spokesperson said.

She said CBI had registered the instant case on the orders of the Supreme Court.
"CBI took over the investigation of the FIR -- case No.102 dated June 03, 2013 -- earlier registered at Baliapal Police Station, District Balasore (Odisha) against Gouri Shankar Parida of Eshore Developers Limited," the spokesperson said.

CBI said investigation revealed that Eshore Developers Limited was registered with Registrar of Companies, Cuttack (Odisha) on September 19, 2011with its office at Sahadevakhunta, Balasore.
"Within a short period of time, it allegedly allured a number of depositors of Balasore District by fraudulently promising them of higher returns and thereafter misappropriated their invested money," she said.

CBI said on completion of investigation, chargesheet was filed on September 30, 2015 in the court of Special CJM, CBI, Bhubaneswar against Parida and Eshore Developers Limited.
"The trial court found the accused guilty and convicted him. In compliance with the orders dated May 09, 2014 of Supreme Court, 44 cases against chit fund companies operating in Odisha were registered by CBI. So far, 11 chargesheets have been filed in 10 cases in the designated court," the spokesperson said.