LUCKNOW, Oct. 1 -- A CBI court in Lucknow has sentenced a former assistant of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment in a Rs.6.37-crore fraud case involving alleged diversion of LIC funds through forged payment vouchers and cheques, the agency said in a press note issued on Thursday.

The court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Pankaj Saxena, the then higher-grade assistant at LIC's trans-Gomti branch in Jankipuram, and three private persons-Prem Shankar Upadhyay, Rekha Upadhyay and Manish Saxena-in the case, according to the CBI.

Besides the jail term, a fine of Rs.5 lakh was also imposed on Saxena. The three private accused were each sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and fined ...