By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 2, 2017 : A special CBI court here on Tuesday awarded five-year jail term to Waytel Chit Fund Managing Director Thakur Amardip Singh, who pleaded guilty to defrauding investors of their money.

The Court also directed Singh to deposit Rs 100 crore with court’s registry which shall be paid to the depositors as compensation as per the law.

On April 24, Singh pleaded guilty of all charges in writing before the court. He was arrested from Nagpur and is currently lodged in Jharpada Special Jail here. The company had allegedly collected money from small investors in Odisha with a promise of high returns ranging from 15 to 20 per cent.

In a related development, five accused in Real Tulip India Ltd chit fund scam including CMD, MD and directors of company on Tuesday pleaded guilty of all charges before court.

Last month, the court had sentenced chit fund firm Artha Tatwa (AT) Group’s chief Pradip Sethy to 7-year imprisonment for his involvement in the multi-crore chit fund scam in Odisha.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on Sethy, failing which he will be required to undergo another 6 months of imprisonment.

Apart from him, the court also sentenced Manoj Patnaik, another director of AT Group to 4 years of imprisonment and imposed on him a fine of Rs 10,000.

Both Sethy and Patnaik had pleaded guilty before the CBI court.