Aizawl, Jul 24 A special court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Aizawl on Friday sentenced four persons to two years of imprisonment each in a multi-crore subsidy scam, officials said.
Special court judge F Rohlupuia also slapped a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh each on the convicts for criminal conspiracy, cheating and using forged documents to fraudulently obtain central government industrial subsidies through a firm in Aizawl.
The court sentenced the four under Section 120B read with Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code to two years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each. Failure to pay the fine will attract an additional four months of imprisonment.
They were also sentenced under Section 120B read with Section 471 of the IPC to six months' imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000 each, with an additional two months' imprisonment in default of payment.
The court, however, directed that barring the fine, the prison term in both the sentences would run concurrently, meaning each of the convicts will serve two years in prison while paying a total fine of Rs 1.5 lakh.
The detention period already undergone in judicial custody shall be set off against the sentence period of imprisonment as provided under law, the court stated.
The case relates to alleged fraudulent claims made by Mizo Carbon Product Limited, based at the Industrial Growth Centre in Aizawl's Luangmual area, under the central government's Central Transport Subsidy (CTS) and Central Capital Investment Subsidy (CCIS) schemes, introduced to promote industrial development in the Northeast.
According to the prosecution, the company illegally secured around Rs 3.41 crore in subsidies by submitting forged documents, transportation expenses and other supporting documents, to claim benefits under the two schemes.
The case had remained under trial since 2017, culminating in the conviction and sentencing of the four accused.
The court, however, on Thursday acquitted 13 other accused for lack of sufficient evidence.
