A couple from Kerala, accused of cheating nearly 600 investors of over Rs 40 crore through a chit fund and finance business they operated in Bengaluru, have filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court for the quashing of the case registered against them.
Tomy A Varghese, 57, and his wife, Shini Tomy, 52, moved the Karnataka High Court for the quashing of the cheating case registered against them at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station on July 5, and an interim order of a stay on the investigation by the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department.
On July 25, the Karnataka High Court granted the state police time to file objections in the case.
According to police sources, the couple is suspected of having fled to Kenya on July 3 after selling an apartment they owned in East Bengaluru and their cars in a pre-planned effort to defraud the hundreds of investors in the A&A Chit Funds and Finance firm. They had been operating the firm in East Bengaluru since 2005.
“The travel history shows that they fled to Kenya on July 3, two days before an FIR was registered. The investigations have shown they sold all their property – apartment and car – for half the price before escaping, which shows that they intended to cheat. We have analysed their bank statements and documents,” a jurisdictional police officer said.
The Ramamurthy Nagar police registered an FIR on July 5 based on a complaint by P T Savio, 64, an investor in the chit fund firm, who alleged that he had been duped of Rs 70 lakh in funds by the couple.
They registered the case under Section 4 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982, under Section 21 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019 (U/s-21), and under sections 318 and 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating and criminal breach of trust.
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In their initial investigations, the police found that 368 investors in A&A Chit Funds had been cheated of Rs 39.66 crore. The police said the Tomys had been operating their company for approximately 20 years, and used to offer interest rates ranging from 6 to 14 per cent.