Kolkata, Feb 29 (IANS): A Nigerian national has been sentenced to five years in prison by a court here for cheating a man of nearly Rs 20 lakh by impersonating as a European and falsely promising to produce a short film in India.

The chief judicial magistrate, Alipore court, also ordered the accused Vincent Collins Otto to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation to the complainant Anutosh Dey or otherwise undergo six more months of imprisonment in the five year old case.

The accused befriended Dey through the social media by impersonating as a European Barry Williams and allured him with a false assurance of investing 30,000 UK Pound for producing the film.

Believing Otto, Dey paid Rs 18,79,600 to different bank accounts provided by the fraudster.

When Dey became suspicious that Otto was defrauding him, he lodged a complaint at the Garfa police station, which registered a case on February 13, 2015.

The case was then handed over to the detective department, and the sleuths arrested Otto with a woman Indian accomplice from Mehrauli, Delhi, in July 2015.

He was charged under different sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to impersonation, cheating and criminal conspiracy and also under the Foreigners Act.

The CJM on Friday sentenced Otto to five years in prison and fined him Rs 10,000 for cheating as also under the Foreigners Act, besides handing him a three-year jail term for impersonation.

The woman was acquitted.