Even as the solar scam enters a decisive phase, another scam involving a SEBI-registered investment advisory firm has surfaced in Kerala.
The Thiruvananthapuram-based sub-broker of Cochin Stock Exchange is accused of defrauding the public of large sums of money.
The police put the amount involved at approximately Rs 200 crore raised from many parts of the State. The money was collected on the promise of assured interest payout of Rs 5,000 for every lakh of rupees invested.
At least 2,400 investors had joined a scheme floated by the company this year with a minimum initial investment of Rs 60,000, sources said. They were offered an incentive of Rs 3,500 and a sovereign (8 grams) of gold, according to complainants.
200 COMPLAINTS
The Vanchiyoor police station in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram city has itself recorded 200 complaints from investors. Police sources said the amounts ranged from Rs 30,000 to as much as Rs 23 lakh.
The company had eight branches within the State and two outside, in Coimbatore and Bangalore. It had flaunted these very credentials to win the trust of investors.
In one instance, Chandrasekharan Nair from Karamana in the city suburbs and his cousin together lost Rs 21 lakh. Glib-talking marketers had convinced them about the company’s profile and services, apart from mentioning that it was based in their own city.
GRIEVING PARENT
They also led them into believing about the company’s capacity to service the amounts raised through prompt and timely interest payment.
But Nair is a grieving parent today, having had to push the date of his daughter’s marriage twice in the last few months since he could not raise the dowry promised. He is not sure how long the marriage proposal can hold, or whether it would.
Leela, another complainant, recounted mostly similar circumstances under which she was made to part with her hard-earned money of Rs 30,000. She had pledged some of her jewellery to raise the money.
BRANCHES CLOSED
According to the police, the company had raised Rs 50 crore from Thiruvananthapuram alone. The amount raised from the neighbouring Kollam district was Rs 1.30 crore.
Malappuram district saw at least Rs 21 crore being collected from 1,200 persons in Nilambur and Rs 9 crore from 250 persons in Perinthalmanna.
Information available suggests that most branches of the company have closed. Santhosh Kumar, managing director of he firm and a native of Kollam, is missing.
KEEPING VIGIL
A few of the investors were seen keeping vigil in front of the company headquarters here, which had pulled down shutters after the scam unravelled a few days ago.
The company had been functioning for over the last eight years and investors received monthly interest payout regularly until seven months ago. When it started to default, the management sought to blame it on the fall in gold prices.
Meanwhile, the case is now learnt to have been referred to the economic offences of the Crime Branch after the duped investors met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here.