THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thousands of investors in the Nirmal Krishna Chit fund are upset over the lackadaisical approach of the Tamil Nadu police. After more than three weeks of protests by investors against the firm, the Tamil Nadu police had not yet conducted any raids at the office or residence of accused or taken any initiatives to nab key promoters, they alleged. About 90 per cent of the investors of the firm are Keralites and the state Crime Branch team has already collected details of about 4,625 customers of the bank who had chit funds and deposits to the tune of about '250 crore with the firm. Details of nearly 100 benami land transactions by the firm were also detected by the Kerala police team.
It was found that the firm operated flouting RBI norms. All these details were handed over to the Tamil Nadu economic offence wing probing the case. “In similar instances in Kerala, like the Total4U scam, the police acted swiftly by nabbing the key accused and seizing assets. However, it is surprising that the TN police had not yet conducted any raids at the company’s premises,” said a police officer in the state. He also added that the probe by TN police got some impetus only after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took up the matter with Tamil Nadu counterpart Edappadi K. Palaniswami and senior police officer from Kerala got in touch with their Tamil Nadu counterparts.
The investors allege that the attitude of the EOW team at Nagercoil probing the case itself conveys their least interest in pursuing the case. “They insist that we should give original documents of the investment. A racket to fleece the investors who turn up for complaining at the EOW office by collecting tips for helping to file petitions have also come up,” said a defrauded Malayali, who preferred not to be identified. Police sources said that the Tamil Nadu EOW will be holding a meeting with the a special team headed by state anti-piracy cell SP Prasanthan Kani this week to decide further course of action to nab the accuse and unearth their wealth. The other day the state police had spared the service of the team to the EOW for a coordinated enquiry by Kerala and Tamil Nadu police. Meanwhile, the insolvency petition of the firm's key promoter Nirmal Krishna (Nirmalan K) was scheduled to be considered by a local court in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
