VIJAYAWADA: The Krishnalanka police Tuesday registered a case against the managing director of Shubhadarsi Estates, a private chit fund company located at Labbipet in the city for cheating its customers. Investors panicked and thronged the Krishnalanka police station soon after news broke that Shubhadarsi Estates had shut down its office and the chief, P Shankara Rao, was taken into custody.
“We only had two months left to complete our chit and were supposed to get back the Rs 85,000 we invested. But then, when we went to the office today, the shutters were down,” said Aruna Kumari, a resident of Autonagar, who paid chit amount for 23 months.
G Rammohan Rao has been shuttling between Vijayawada and Hyderabad for the last six months to collect his Rs 10 lakh from the Shubhadarsi Estates. “The management of the chit fund company has been delaying my payment since December last. Even the Rs 2 lakh cheque they gave on June 12, to pacify me, has bounced twice,” he lamented.
B Murali, who deposited Rs 3,00,000, is yet to receive Rs 1,50,000 from the chit fund company. “I have been visiting the office for the last four months now that my sister’s marriage got fixed. But, managing director Sankara Rao has been dodging away and now, the office is closed,” he said.
It is said that the police received 35 complaints so far and the number of victims is likely to rise. The cops registered a case under Section 420 of IPC and Section 76 of the Chit Fund Act, and took up investigation.