Disgruntled customers of a real estate investment company located on Cunningham Road caused commotion in the area on Monday, alleging delay in payments.
The protest took place at the PACL India Ltd office. According to Cubbon Park police, those who had invested in various schemes of the company arrived at the office to complain, after cheques issued by it bounced. This resulted in a heated argument between some company agents and the customers.
The police explained that PACL invites applications from customers to invest (on a monthly installment basis or a one-time payment basis) on barren land for a set period of time. At the end of the maturity period, the customer will be given either the land or the money with an interest of 12.5 per cent.
Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed that the company should come under the SEBI Act as their turnover has exceeded `7 crore a month. However, the company protested, saying this would affect the commission given to field agents, who play an integral role in the company.
While a case in this regard pending at the Delhi High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun an inquiry to authenticate the credibility of the company. In order to do so, the bank accounts of the company — at IDBI and Bank of Baroda — were frozen on February 26.
“When we visited the company office, we saw that people who were involved in monthly schemes were putting in money, as usual. It was a few people whose amounts had matured that were having a problem,” a police source said.
However, he added that none of the people at the office wanted to file a complaint.
Krishna Jeet, a field officer with the company for the last 33 years, said that once the CBI verification is completed, things will go back to normal.
“I don’t want to comment on the court case. However, ever, since the accounts have been frozen, a large number of people have been calling after they were unable to get their money. I have explained the situation to them and also told them that if they were unhappy, they could file a complaint with the local police station,” he said.
He added that the CBI inquiry is sure to prove the company’s credibility, though he remained unsure how long it would take to be completed.