A special court in Coimbatore on Friday sentenced six persons to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for cheating five depositors of ₹ 63.72 lakh in an investment scam.
Judge A.S. Ravi, Special Court for the trial of cases registered under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act in Coimbatore, awarded the punishment to G. Sivakumar of Sundarapuram, P. Murugesan of Saravanampatti, his wife G. Priya, S. Lakshmi of Erode, G. Vimala of Sundarapuram and one Deepa.
According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Coimbatore, the accused were promoters of ‘White Collar Associate’, a firm based at Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore. The company, through its website, promised high returns to depositors for their investments.
The EOW registered a case against the company and the accused based on a complaint from B. Sampathkumar of Sundarapuram in June 2018. The investigation revealed that the firm duped five investors of ₹ 63.72 lakh between May 1, 2017 and January 4, 2018. The EOW submitted the chargesheet against the accused before the TNPID court, which pronounced the judgment on Friday.
Besides 10 years of RI, the court levied a total fine of ₹ 72 lakh to the six persons that should be distributed among the investors. EOW team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police M.G. Arun investigated the case.
