Kolkata:

A court in Kolkata sentenced an official of chit fund company Rose Valley to seven years in jail for duping investors of their money through ponzi schemes floated by the firm.

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

The court convicted Arun Mukhopadhyay after he admitted that he was guilty during the hearing.

Lawyer for the depositors Arindam Das said that thousands of people were duped by the Rose Valley Group, which had set up multiple companies to run their chit fund operations.

According to the court, Arun Mukhopadhyay, who was arrested after the scam was unearthed in 2013, was in custody for three years before being released on bail, and this period of incarceration will be included in the total jail term of seven years that he has to serve.

Several accused, including Rose Valley group chief Gautam Kundu, have so far been arrested in connection with the chit fund scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)