Yesterday, Madhya Pradesh, session court in Sagar, has awarded 170 years of rigorous imprisonment to a man over a fraud case by cheating on 34 people on the pretext of setting up of clothes factory. The total amount involved is ₹72 lakh.

The accused was convicted under section 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) which has maximum punishment of seven years, but in the said matter, Mohammad was sentenced to five years,

The prison term is among the longest awarded in the country.

Further, the Court directed Nasir Mohammad alias Nasir Rajput, 55, a resident of Tapi, Gujarat to pay ₹10,000 to each of his victims.

In his judgement, upper session court judge Abdullah Ahmed said: , “The convict had cheated 34 people. It is necessary to be punished in respect of each victim separately, because the responsibility of the offence committed by the accused in respect of each victim is also different.”

That means he will end up serving 34*5 or 170 years.

The district prosecution’s media in-charge Saurabh Dimha said that the police acted against Mohammad after a late 2019 complaint by residents of Bhainsa and Sadar village of Sagar district. The felon, Dimha added, developed a good relationship with the locals after moving to the area in late 2018. His lifestyle was lavish and he said he was waiting for the proceeds of a real estate sale to come through to invest in a garment factory. The Reserve Bank of India, Mohammad claimed, had stayed the transfer of ₹7.85 crore on account of some tax issue. He also let the locals know that his sons deal in garments in Cambodia, Vietnam and Dubai.

It was only a matter of time before locals took the bait; many invested in his factory.

Mohammad absconded after one of the investors push him to return the money. His family also went missing. He was arrested on December, 19, 2020 from Kulbarga in Karnataka.

However, the legal experts feel that it will be set aside in the higher court. “ The punishment is mainly concurrent not consecutive. The punishment could be consecutive if the nature of crime is different but in this case it won’t stand in upper court,” said Ravi Nandan Singh, retired advocate general of MP.