Sambalpur: The Sambalpur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court today awarded a five-year jail term to Artha Tatwa (AT) Group chief Pradeep Sethi in connection with a fraud of Rs 5 lakh.
The court pronounced the verdict while hearing a petition filed by one Raghumani Das of Burla.
Earlier, in April 2017, the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate court of CBI had awarded seven-year imprisonment to Sethi for duping hundreds of depositors in the State through his chit fund AT Group.
Besides, the court had also imprisoned Manoj Patnaik, one of the directors of AT Group for four years.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 and Rs 10,000 on Sethi and Patnaik, respectively.
Moreover, the court had also asked AT Group to deposit Rs 250 crore within a stipulated time or failing which the attached properties of the company would be auctioned off to realise the dues.
Sethi and Patnaik had pleaded guilty before the court to their involvement in the chit fund scam.
They have been lodged in the Jharpara Special Jail in Bhubaneswar after their arrest in 2013 in connection with the chit fund scam.
The group has allegedly duped investors in Odisha of more than Rs 500 crore.