Panic gripped the town on Wednesday following the sudden closure of a private finance firm with which a large number of people had pledged their gold jewels.
As news spread about the closure of the firm, scores thronged the Tirupur North police station seeking immediate action. According to the police, the finance firm on Golden Nagar Road, run by Abbas Ansari of Karunakarapuri, had not opened for the past couple of days ago.
Many, who had pledged their jewellery, grew suspicious and thronged the premises on Wednesday morning.They also gathered in front of the Tirupur North police station demanding an inquiry into the sudden closure.
Amjathakan, a local resident, in his petition said, “I pledged 12 grams of gold jewels with the firm six months ago and got `10,000. When I went to the shop on Tuesday to pay the amount, it was closed. The owner and his wife were also not there in their house. Police should take quick action on the issue.” According to him hundreds of locals had pledged their jewellery with Abbas Ansari. Apart from financing, Abbas was also running several chit fund schemes through his firm.
A woman said, “I paid `100 per week for the past 25 weeks and about 300 local residents were also members of the same scheme. He was also running six schemes for `50,000.”
People suspect that Abbas, after selling his house, had fled with the money and jewellery. A neighbour of Abbas said, “I paid `3 lakh for lease. Two more families, who had paid `1 lakh and `40,000 respectively, live on the same compound. He sold the entire complex recently without our knowledge.”
The Tirupur district police have registered a case.