Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 28 : The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore has convicted six accused in an overseas job scam case, sentencing five of them to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a total fine of Rs 54 lakh, while another accused was sentenced four years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 2 lakh.
The convicted individuals include Pulliyil Cheriyan, Managing Director of the firm, along with Francis Arun, Asha Sharlet, and Santosh William, who were sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment. Another accused, Preetha Kuman, was sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 2 lakh, the CBI said in a release.
The court on Thursday also ordered the confiscation of the convicts' properties and directed the sale of 448 grams of gold ornaments seized during the investigation to compensate the victims.
According to the investigation agency, the accused had started a firm named Yanbo Associates in Gandhipuram in 2005. They allegedly used forged foreign employment permits and collected fees ranging from Rs 80,000 to Rs 3 lakh per person. The accused lured mostly young professionals and labourers by promising high-paying jobs in the United Kingdom and Cyprus.
The case was initially registered by the Kattoor Police in Coimbatore city and was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011 on the orders of the Madras High Court. The CBI subsequently registered the case on March 18, 2011, against eight accused persons, who were later arrested in Mumbai.
After completing the investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet against the accused on 21 March 2012. Following the trial, the court convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly.
During the course of the trial, three accused, Narayanan Ramesh Babu, V N Shine, and Benjamin William Sawer died, leading to the abatement of charges against them.
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