Bhopal: The Gunga police have booked a few men associated with two chit fund companies in Bhopal and in Indore for duping villagers in the area. One of the companies has duped villagers of over Rs 4 crore, while the other has cheated villagers by over Rs 80 lakh.
The villagers were duped through the companies’ agents who were relatives, neighbours and acquaintances of the victims and, thus, they did not lodge police complaints for over 7 years. Those agents have now lodged complaints after their relatives mounted pressure on them.
First company
Gunga police said the accused would promise the villagers hefty returns on investment in their companies. Police said the firm, Zee Life India Developers and Colonisers Limited was located at Old Palasia, in Indore.
Complainant Rajesh Kumar Malwiya, a resident of Ratua village, told the police that he had met Yogesh Gurjar, Rahul, Rajesh and Sunil in 2012. They had asked him to deposit money in the firm for returns that would be manifold of the principal amount. He had asked his friends and others to deposit money in the firm.
The accused, through Malwiya, convinced the villagers to deposit money for huge returns. The firm duped them of over Rs 4 crore between 2012 and 2017, before they disappeared.
Second company
The second firm, HBM Dairies and Allied Limited, located at Vinayak complex in Zone 2 of MP Nagar, had duped villagers of Rs 80 lakh between 2008 and 2013. They made Santosh Chowksey, a resident of Kacchi Barkheda, their agent for cheating over 100 villagers. He said accused Giriraj Pandey, Deepak Sharma, Ashok Dubey, RS Verma, Jitendra Tiwari, Mahesh Sunil Sharma and Kishore had convinced him to encourage villagers to deposit money in the firm.
As the villagers were cheated through agents who were their relatives, they shied away from approaching the police and were assured of getting their money back without any trouble.
Vanished without a trace
After they failed to trace the accused — they are neither reachable at their phone numbers, nor at their registered addresses — the villagers lodged a complaint in December 2020. An FIR was registered in the case on Thursday.
SHO Ramesh Rai said they had only names and former addresses of the accused. “We’ve initiated an investigation into the matter,” he added.
