COIMBATORE: A special court for Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (in financial establishment) Act on Monday sentenced three people, including a woman, to 10 years of imprisonment for cheating 374 depositors of Rs 5.62 crores.
The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 3.36 crore against them.
The convicts have been identified as R Raja, his wife R Sasikala and their relative C Ranjith Kumar – residents of Salem district.
While Raja and Ranjith Kumar appeared before the court, the court has issued a non-bailable warrant against Sasikala as she failed to appear before the court.
In May 2012, the accused started two companies – Abi emu farms and Abi emu and agro farms India private limited – in Salem and offered two schemes to the public, according to a judicial source.
“Under the farm scheme, if a person deposits Rs 1.5 lakhs, the company will construct a shed and provide six emu chicks for rearing along with its fodder and medicine. The company will also provide him a monthly incentive of Rs 6,000 and a yearly bonus of Rs 20,000.
By the end of the second year, the invested amount will be returned to him/her. Under the VIP scheme, if a person deposits Rs 1.5 lakhs, the company itself will rear the emu chicks in the name of the depositors apart from providing Rs 7,000 as monthly incentive as Rs 25,000 as yearly bonus for two years before returning their deposited amount,” a source said.
As many as 374 depositors had invested Rs 5.62 crore with the company but they managed to fulfill their promise only for a few months, the source said and added that later that year, a complaint was registered against the accused at Economic Offence Wing (EOW) in Salem.
Subsequently, the accused were arrested under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of Indian penal code and 5 of TNPID Act and the charge sheet was filed in April 2013.
While pronouncing the judgement on Monday, the special judge AS Ravi sentenced the accused to ten years of imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 1.12 crore against each one of them.
Of the total penalty amount Rs 3.36 crore, the judge issued directions to distribute Rs 3.35 crore to the victims, the source added.
In another judgment that was pronounced on Monday, the special judge convicted Ranjith Kumar, his wife R Radha and Raja for 10 years of imprisonment for cheating 173 depositors of Rs 2.33 crore in another case. The court slapped a penalty of Rs 1.29 against them.
According to the source, “The trio started a company called Jai emu farms private limited in Salem in 2012 and offered similar schemes that they had offered at their other companies. As many as 173 depositors had invested Rs 2.33 crores with the company.”
Following a complaint from K Selvaraj, a resident of Omalur against the accused with EOW in Salem, the officials had arrested the accused and filed a separate charge sheet against them.
“The judge sentenced them to ten years of imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 43.25 lakhs against each one of them. The court has also issued directions to distribute Rs 1.28 crores to the victims,” he added.