Kolkata court awards 7-yr jail to chit fund company official

A court here on Friday sentencedan official of chit fund company Rose Valley to seven years injail for duping investors of their money through ponzi schemesfloated by the firm.

Judge Anupam Mukhopadhyay of City Sessions Court alsoslapped a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh on Arun Mukhopadhyay, who was adirector in the Rose Valley group.

The court convicted Mukhopadhyay after he admittedthat he was guilt during the hearing.

Lawyer for the depositors Arindam Das said thatthousands of people were duped by the Rose Valley Group, whichhad set up multiple companies to run their chit fundoperations.

According to the court, Mukhopadhyay, who was arrestedafter the scam was unearthed in 2013, was in custody for threeyears before being released on bail, and this period ofincarceration will be included in the total jail term of sevenyears he has to serve.

Several accused, including Rose Valley group chiefGautam Kundu, have so far been arrested in connection with thechit fund scam being probed by the CBI and the EnforcementDirectorate.