Aizawl: The gullible investors, who had been duped of their hard-earned money in Chiahpuam chit fund in Mizoram that went bust five years back, now feel being cheated by the police who have the custody of their money.
One of the duped investors, Helena Lalsawmkima, talking to the press on Saturday, said she felt the money was not safe in police custody.
“As per the Chiahpuam special investigation team’s press release on March 10, 2009, the amount of cash in police custody was stated to be Rs 24,78,15,000. A recent check of the Aizawl SP account showed the amount as Rs 11,33,40,996. Rs 1345 lakh is missing,” she alleged.
She further alleged that rents from buildings seized in connection with the chit fund were not deposited to the chit fund account since last year, raising the investors’ suspicion.
Helena also alleged that one of the biggest Chiahpuam agents Jubilithangi had recently withdrawn Rs 350 lakh from her insurance account, which according to her, was a clear indication that the agents’ accounts were not frozen.
She also pointed out that many investors now suspected a secret liaison between the chit fund agents and leaders of investors’ association.
“We suspect that they are reaching into some sort of agreement for their own interest leaving us behind,” she said.
Whereas, the governments of West Bengal and Assam hit recently by similar chit fund scam of much larger scale swiftly acted in defence of the investors, the victims here felt that Mizoram government has been acting very slow.
“Almost five years have passed since Chiahpuam fake investment crashed, but justice appears to be still a far cry for us,” she lamented.
She said after the courts handed over the case to Lok Adalat, the latter now passed the ball back to the courts.
“We plead the Mizoram government to empower the district court under the Mizoram Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Financial Establishment Act) 2002 to expedite the case,” she said.
Long before the Saradha chit fund of West Bengal made national headlines, Mizoram police in the late October 2008 busted a chit fund locally known as Chiahpuam in which thousands of investors had been duped of their money with a false promise of high returns.
Within short period, the police arrested all the agents, including the kingpin C Lalmuanpuii, and seized crores and crores of rupees and a number of immovable assets. (UNI)