Two people including a former army officer duped defense personnel of Rs 29 crore
Received five years imprisonment
A court dealing with the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors Act has sentenced two people, including a retired Army officer, to five years’ imprisonment for duping defense personnel. The court on Friday sentenced Sainik Welfare Organization chief Lt Col (Retd) Rakesh Rana and Brookson Infra Pvt Ltd Managing Director Purna Chandra Panda to five years imprisonment.
According to the information, a fine of one lakh rupees has also been imposed on both of them. Rakesh Rana and Purna Chandra Panda have cheated many defense personnel of about Rs 29 crore by promising them princely land. However, both could not give the land and did not return the money to the defense personnel despite repeated appeals. The cheated defense personnel had lodged a complaint against Rana and Panda with the Economic Offenses Wing of the Odisha Police.
While investigating the cases, the police had registered a case against Rana and Panda under various sections of the IPC and section 6 of the OPID Act. While hearing the case, the OPID court found both the company and the company guilty of the charges leveled against them and sentenced them. Biswajit Mohapatra, Special Public Prosecutor of OPID (Special) Court, said, “Besides imprisonment, Rana and Panda have been directed to pay a fine of Rs one lakh each. Similarly, a fine of Rs 2 lakh has also been imposed on the company.
It is to be known that earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case against 6 officers of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for corruption in the selection of military officers through the Service Selection Board (SSB). Lt Col Bhagwan and Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh were found involved in fraud taking place in SSB centers. Lt Col Bhagwan in the Army Air Defense Corps was the main accused in this whole business of army recruitment. In this entire case, the CBI had raided many places. Not only this, cases were also registered against many civilians including 23 army staff.
