By Express News Service
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh government has adopted a stern course of action by launching a crackdown on fraudulent chit fund companies to secure the deposits of duped investors.
As many as 427 cases have been registered against around 200 unregulated chit-fund companies and 265 cases are pending against them in the courts. As part of the action taken on the basis of complaints lodged by victims, close to 446 directors, 175 office bearers and 194 agents of various chit-fund companies have been arrested, according to the official statement.
Lakhs of applications were filed against the chit-fund companies in different districts, resulting in the procedures of refunding money initiated under the ‘Protection of Interests of Depositors of Chhattisgarh Act’.
The money that duped customers lost is being returned after attaching and auctioning off the properties of the fraudulent companies. So far, a sum of over Rs 10 crore belonging to the chit fund companies has been attached and Rs 9,78,00,000 returned to 17,622 investors.
“A committee has been constituted in almost every district as per the instruction of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel to initiate prompt action and recover the deposits of the investors from the fraudulent chit fund companies. Besides legal action, information about properties of various chit fund companies is being acquired from the depositors and local residents at the district level,” a government spokesperson said.
“Chhattisgarh is the only state returning the amount to the duped investors. The process of helping the victims of chit fund fraud will continue. Collectors and the superintendents of police have been instructed to deal strictly against such deceitful and fraudulent practices of chit fund companies”, said the chief minister.
Punnu Ram in Rajnandgaon and Sharda Bai in Bilaspur are among the many investors who were deceived by the companies after being assured of sizeable returns on their investments, even to the extent of 3 times the invested amount, in a short span of a few years.
“We were enticed by lucrative schemes that promised high returns but instead lost our deposits. With the tough action by the state authorities, we have so far received nearly 40 percent of the hard-earned money we invested,” they said.
