CHENNAI: A 52 year old woman, who was working as a Tamil teacher at a private school near Avadi was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a sub-court for misappropriation and cheating public of several lakhs by operating a chit fund.

The accused, S Jasmine was also fined Rs 37 lakh by the court. Jasmine was booked by the police in 2015 based on a complaint by another teacher, K Usha, who was among those who were cheated by the accused.

According to police, Jasmine's husband Selvaraj died in a road accident in 2005 after which she was taking care of the family alone. She has been running chits since 2008.

In the Deepavali chit fund she floated in 2014, she managed to collect over Rs 50 lakh from several hundreds of persons and did not repay them.

The complainant Usha alone had referred more than 100 persons to invest in the chit fund and she had also helped the accused with loans worth few lakhs from time to time, police said.

After going through the submissions in the trial, a magistrate court in Poonamallee held the accused guilty and sentenced her to two years imprisonment.

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!

Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!

Click here for iOS

Click here for Android