Bhubaneswar, April 6: The court of special chief judicial magistrate, CBI, today convicted Pradeep Sethy, chief of money deposit collection firm Artha Tatwa Group that duped gullible investors across the state, to seven years in jail and imposed a penalty of Rs 30,000.

Sources said though 26 cases had been filed against Sethy in various police stations across the state, he had made confessions in connection with a case filed against him with Kharavela Nagar police station in February 2013. Today's conviction follows his confession on Wednesday in the Kharavela Nagar case.

The court also convicted Manoj Patnaik, one of the directors of the Ponzi firm, in the same case. Patnaik was sentenced to four years in jail. The court has also ordered an additional six months' imprisonment for Sethy if he failed to pay up the penalty.

The court convicted Sethy and Patnaik without a trial after both of them had submitted a petition confessing their crime last November.

The court also ordered the Ponzi firm to deposit Rs 250 crore to repay the duped investors, failing which the movable and immovable assets attached so far of the firm would be auctioned. Sethy has been lodged in the Jharapada jail since May 2013. Odisha Police had arrested him because they were initially investigating the money-laundering scam by the Artha Tatha Group. The CBI later took over the investigation in May 2014 following a Supreme Court order.

The group has allegedly duped investors of a total of Rs 1,200 crore. The company, which started functioning in 2010, collected huge investments promising high returns of 15 to 20 per cent. In February 2013, some investors had lodged a case against the group and subsequently other investors also lodged several complaints both against the company and Sethy.

CBI so far has arrested more than 20 persons. Those arrested include BJD legislator from Banki Pravat Tripathy, former advocate-general Asok Mohanty, model Priti Bhatia and Mumbai-based stockbroker Deepak Pareekh.

The CBI had also arrested Rajat Choudhury, former youth president of the Congress for allegedly receiving monetary benefits from the Artha Tatwa Group.