TURA, May 25 � The two chit fund companies Jeevan Suraksha and Sharda Group that saw investments from small and medium range investors have been convicted of major fraud and the heads of both have been arrested and are now doing jail time.
However, very little headway has been made in returning the deposited money to the people of different States. For now though, the depositors have been left to rue the lack of transparency in the whole process of dissolution of the seized assets of the two companies and their distribution.
Investors in the Garo Hills region, who have been duped of crores of rupees of their hard earned money are at tenterhooks to find a way to recover their savings. The problems they face are huge � no co-ordination, no cases filed in Meghalaya and no single point of contact and even the acrimonious attitude of the agents.
While the Jeevan Suraksha episode has been more than a year now, there has been no progress in the case. With the exit of Jeevan Suraksha, the Sharda group episode was just waiting to happen. While it is difficult to ascertain the exact amount that has been swindled out of Garo Hills, the figure is estimated to be close to Rs 500 crore.
In the case of Sharda Group in the Garo Hills region, the agents had presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills Pravin Bakshi. They would meet on Sunday to chalk out a course of action so that the people of Garo Hills do not lose out in the event the assets dissolution by the CBI helped them get some returns for their customers. They, however, are yet to file an FIR against the company.
Small time investors, who have been investing their hard earned money are the most hard hit by the fraud. An auto driver, who had been putting in Rs 200 daily over the past year in the hope that he would be able to buy another auto, said his life was shattered after the company went bust.
Another investor, who had invested more than Rs 1 lakh said �We were investing in these companies as the State Government itself had tacitly given support to these companies. If these companies were operating illegally, why then the administration did not do anything to prevent the fraud ?�