THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch special team probing the multi-crore Nirmal Krishna chit fund fraud will soon hand over the details of the 2500-odd investors who were allegedly duped by the firm to the Tamil Nadu economic offences wing. According to the Crime Branch, the account details of the investors have been subjected to a scrutiny to verify the veracity of the complaints. The Crime Branch officials said they could only provide assistance to the Tamil Nadu police as the place of occurrence of crime is in Tamil Nadu.
The Crime Branch, the other day, submitted a preliminary inquiry report to state police chief Loknath Behera stating that the state police has no legal authority to investigate the case as the alleged firm is located in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu police have collected details of benami deals of the accused Nirmalan Krishnan Nair from the village and sub-registrar offices at Parassala and Neyyattinkara. The bank accounts of the accused have also been frozen based on the directions of the police. However, the investors expressed dissatisfaction over the police investigation. Action council president M Gopalakrishnan alleged that the police have failed to trace the culprits and they had only managed to take two staffers of the firm into custody. “I am afraid the delay in the investigation may help the accused go into hiding,” he said.
The Thiruvananthapuram Sub-Court will consider the insolvency petition of accused Nirmalan on Monday. Sources said Nirmalan may approach the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail.
Nirmal Krishna Chit Fund company, a finance firm which functioned in Palukal in Tamil Nadu and close to the Kerala border, had allegedly duped over 13,600 investors from Kerala and Tamil Nadu who had deposited over Rs 500 crore under various investment schemes on the promise of good returns. Among them were several people hailing from Parassala, Vellarada and Kunnathukal areas bordering Tamil Nadu. The cheating came to light after the firm’s office remained closed after the Onam break.
The firm had registered the mortgaged properties in the names of the arrested persons.
The police said around 16 people went absconding along with the key accused. The firm had collected deposits to the tune of several crores from various persons, including businessmen and politicians in Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram districts. The company reportedly had strong presence in areas like the Chalai market here. It used to offer returns at the rate of Rs 1,400 per month for a deposit of Rs 1 lakh. Nirmal Krishna Nidhi Ltd used to prompt the investors to convert the monthly payment from the deposit as chit payment so the amount could be retained by the firm.
CM’s intervention sought
T’Puram: The CPM Thiruvananthapuram district committee has urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take urgent steps to ensure that those who lost money in the Nirmal Krishna scam, get back their money. In a statement issued here, CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan said there’s a deliberate attempt by the bank to cheat the investors.