BHUBANESWAR: The Special CBI Court here on Saturday convicted Astha International Limited's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Santosh Kishan Sapkale and Director Chandrasingh Shivaji Chauhan for a financial fraud amounting to `66 crore.
The CBI Court sentenced Sapkale and Chauhan to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of `15,000 in the case which was being investigated by the CBI since May 2014. Both Sapkale and Chauhan were pleaded guilty on the charges pressed against them before the Special CJM (CBI) on Wednesday.
The court also convicted the two companies - Astha Goat Farming India Pvt Ltd and Astha International Ltd - which were named in the Central Agency's chargesheet and ordered the promoters to deposit a compensation of `75 crore.
Earlier, a special court in Cuttack in September 2015 had directed the State Government to auction the properties of the Astha Group and distribute the sale proceeds equitably among the investors who were allegedly duped by the company.
The Central Agency had conducted raids at four places in the country including one at Jagatsinghpur in connection with Astha chit fund fraud. The CBI had submitted the preliminary chargesheet on the financial fraud before the Special CJM (CBI) in April 2016 in which it had named Subhransu Lenka, Chouhan and Sapkale as accused of duping investors in the State.
Trial in Astha chit fund case has ended a week after the Special CBI Court convicted prime accused in Artha Tatwa (AT) Group scam Pradip Sethy and his associate Manoj Patnaik. The next hearing in AT Group case has been scheduled on April 20 when the charges against rest of the 19 accused is likely to be pronounced, said sources.
