Bhopal, Jul 25 (IANS): A special court here on Friday sentenced 12 people, including five employees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation's regional office here, to sentences ranging from three to seven years jail for embezzling over Rs.44 lakh.

Fines totalling Rs.50,70,000 were also slapped on the convicts, said the Central Bureau of investigation which had started to probe the case in 2005 and filed a charge sheet in 2007.

According to the agency, the scam's mastermind Gajendra Singh, an employee in the regional office, had entered into an conspiracy with other mid-ranking officials and outsiders and between 2001 and 2003, fraudulently purported to settle the accounts of 11 people and drew out Rs.44,74,000 which went into their own pockets.

It was also found that these 11 claimants were not even members of the EPFO, the CBI said.

Gajendra Singh received the maxmium sentence of seven years jail and Rs.38 lakh fine, Pratap Singh, C.T.Joseph, Ramchander and R.D. Paranjpe all got five years jail but were fined Rs.3,80,000, Rs.2,30,000, Rs.2,05,000, Rs.2.05,000 respectively. All were EPFO employees. The other seven received three year jail terms and fines.