Bhubaneswar: The Court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, CBI, on Friday convicted one of the directors of fake deposit mobilisation company Artha Tatwa Jagabandhu Panda in a Ponzi case and sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment.

Panda was convicted under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Panda, the former director of Artha Tatwa group, had allegedly embezzled nearly Rs 100 crore from the company before floating another money deposit collection company called Swastik India along with some former Artha Tatwa group employees in 2011. Panda was arrested in May, 2013 and he confessed to committing the crimes before the court on Monday.

Panda is the fifth officer-bearer of Artha Tatwa group to be convicted so far. In April last year, the CBI court had convicted Artha Tatwa group chief Pradeep Sethy and director Manoj Patnaik in Ponzi cases.

While the court had pronounced seven years of imprisonment for Sethy, Patnaik was sentenced four years of imprisonment. #Artha Tatwa group has allegedly swindled Rs 1,200 crore from thousands of investors across the state.

CBI so far has arrested more than 20 persons in connection with Artha Tatwa's money laundering. Among those arrested are BJD legislator from Banki Pravat Tripathy, former advocate general Asok Mohanty and Mumbai-based model Priti Bhatia.