A plantation firm and its three directors have been slapped with a fine of Rs two lakhs by a Delhi court for raising huge fund from the public after promising them high returns without prior approval from market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pawan Kumar Jain fined YSVK Agro Green Fields & Estate Ltd, a firm among hundreds of collective investment companies (CIS), on a complaint by SEBI, seeking prosecution of the plantation company for not getting prior certificate from it as prescribed by the SEBI Act.

SEBI had alleged that "the company had floated the CIS and mobilised lakhs of rupees from general public, in violation of the provisions of the SEBI Act. (PTI)