CBI court gives AT Group Chief 7-yr jail term in chitfund case

A special CBI court today sentenced Artha Tatwa group chief Pradip Sethy to seven years in jail for committing fraud and cheating in a chuitfund scam and ordered him to return Rs 250 crore to his investors.
The chief judicial magistrate also convicted Sethy's accomplice Manoj Kumar Patnaik, one of his firm's directors of in the fraud case and sentenced him to four years in jail.
The court imposed a penalty of Rs 30,000 and Rs 10,000 on Sethy and Patnaik respectively.
In case of the default in payment of the penalty, the court said Sethy would have to undergo RI for another six months. In case Patnaik fails to pay the penalty amount, he would have to undergo RI for another two months.

CBI judge-cum-CJM P K Mishra convicted the duo under sections 120-B, 406, 409, 411 and 420 of IPC and under sections 456 and 468 of The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.
The court also directed Sethy to deposit Rs 250 crore so that the money could be distributed among the investors duped by the chitfund firm.

The court said in case Sethy fails to deposit the amount within stipulated time, his properties would be attached to recover the money.
The AT group was accused of money laundering and committing fraud to the tune of Rs 500 crore.

Sethy was arrested for the first time on May 13, 2013.
The CBI was later entrusted with the AT Group case on June 5, 2014.
Both Sethy and Patnaik had confessed before the court yesterday that the charges filed against them by the CBI were true.