LUCKNOW, Dec. 22 -- A special CBI court in Lucknow has sentenced three persons, including a senior official of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Ballia, to five years of rigorous imprisonment for causing a wrongful loss of over Rs.1 crore to the government exchequer under the Sampurna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), CBI officials said on Sunday.

The court, on December 20 convicted Satyendra Singh Gangwar, then chief finance and accounts officer, DRDA Ballia; Ashok Kumar Upadhyay, then junior accounts clerk, DRDA Ballia; and Raghunath Yadav, a private individual. The convicts were also fined a total of Rs.77,000.

The SGRY was a flagship rural employment scheme aimed at providing wage employment and food security to rural househ...