Bhubaneswar, May 12: The court of special chief judicial magistrate (CBI) today convicted money deposit collection company Naba Diganta's chairman-cum-managing director Anjan Kumar Baliarsingh for cheating investors.

The court today sentenced the 40-year-old Baliarsingh to three years of imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 15,000. He was arrested along with two directors of the company - Kartikeya Parida and Pradeep Patnaik - on October 26, 2014, and is currently lodged in Jharapada jail.

Besides, the court asked Naba Diganta Capital Services Ltd and Naba Diganta Agro Industries Ltd to deposit Rs 10 crore with it, failing which the attached properties of the Ponzi firm would be auctioned. Baliarsingh was convicted after he pleaded guilty through a written petition to the court this month and his statement was recorded on Wednesday.

The trial of the case began two months ago and 12 witnesses were examined before the accused finally confessed to his crime.

His conviction may spell trouble for BJD's Mayurbhanj MP Rama Chandra Hansdah, former BJD legislator Subarna Naik and former BJP legislator Hitesh Bagarti, all of whom are in judicial custody for their alleged involvement in the deposit collection scam. They were arrested by the CBI in November 2014 and are currently lodged in Jharapada jail too.

Real Tulip conviction

The special court has also convicted five office bearers of the Ponzi firm Real Tulip India Ltd for cheating investors.

The court convicted chairman-cum-managing director of the firm Malaya Guha and sentenced him to four years in jail. Four directors of the company - Malay Halder, Prasenjit Sil, Tirtha Halder and Dipankar Ghosh - were sentenced to three years in jail.

The court also asked the company to deposit Rs 37 crore to compensate the investors.