A local court in Paralakhemundi, Odisha, has sentenced a 41-year-old man to two years in jail for taking Rs 38,000 from a farmer on the promise of installing solar panels under a subsidy scheme and failing to complete the installation or return the money.
Judicial magistrate first class Suvankar Mohanty also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on Sandeep Pattanayak. The court ordered that he serve an additional three months in jail if he fails to pay the fine, according to public prosecutor Rajesh Kumar Mishra.
The case relates to an alleged fraud in Ramagiri, in Gajapati district, where Pattanayak collected the money in advance through an online payment. The installation was proposed under the SOA CSR fund subsidy scheme, according to the report.
The farmer approached Ramagiri police after the solar panels were not installed and the advance was not returned. An FIR was lodged at Ramagiri police station on June 10, around four months after the payment was made, the report said.
The conviction followed the recording of statements from eight witnesses. The court proceedings establish the penalty imposed in this individual case, while the supplied report does not indicate whether other beneficiaries or transactions are being investigated.
The case highlights the need for applicants seeking subsidised solar installations to verify the identity of the implementing agency and the payment process before transferring advance funds. The report does not provide further details about the scheme’s administrative structure, the number of beneficiaries or whether the promised installation was linked to a government department or a private intermediary.
