Sambalpur: A local court Wednesday handed down five years of imprisonment to AT group chief Pradip Sethi after convicting him of duping a depositor of Rs 6 lakh.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Manas Kumar Panda, while awarding the punishment also imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on Sethi.
In default, he has to undergo an additional one year of imprisonment, the judge observed while disposing of the case. The money earned from penalty would be paid as compensation to the petitioner, the judge said.
According to the case diary, Raghumani Dash of MCL Anand Vihar in Sambalpur had bought a money back policy of Rs 6 lakh from Artha Tattwa (AT) group April 3, 2012.
He deposited the money in the firm and was expecting good returns. His hopes, however, were dashed after a news report highlighted the swindling of people’s deposits by the group chief. Aggrieved, Dash filed a petition in the court in 2013 praying for justice.
The sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) initially conducted a hearing in the case but the matter was later transferred to the court of chief judicial magistrate. The court admitted the case and conducted a hearing.
Sethi was twice produced in courts during hearing and was first called for personal appearance September 13, 2017 in the SDJM court and later at CJM’s court November 14, 2017.
He was produced in court under tight security Tuesday afternoon where he confessed to his crime during hearing in the court.
Public prosecutor Gyana Ranjan Panda pleaded the matter on behalf of the state government. PNN
