Bengaluru police suspect Kerala couple fled to Kenya with siphoned chit fund money
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The Kerala couple who were operating a chit fund in Bengaluru are suspected to have fled to Kenya with the money, defrauding 368 investors of nearly Rs 40 crore, and police say they had sold their apartment in Krishnarajapuram and cars in a pre-planned exit strategy.
Tomy A Varghese, aged 57, and his wife Shini Tomy, aged 52, are believed to have left India on July 3, two days before the police booked them following a complaint filed by a 64-year-old senior citizen who claimed to have lost Rs 70 lakh in the alleged fraud, The Indian Express reported.
Operating under the name A&A Chit Funds and Finance, the couple are said to have built a network of over 750 investors over the last two decades by promising returns ranging between 6 and 14 per cent, and is alleged to have siphoned off large amounts into their private and firm-linked bank accounts before disappearing.
After the initial complaint was lodged, dozens of defrauded investors gathered at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station to submit their own grievances, and police have so far found that 368 investors have collectively lost Rs 39.66 crore, though the total figure is expected to rise sharply as more victims come forward.
Preliminary investigations have indicated that nearly 750 to 800 people may have invested in the company, and police sources believe the total amount embezzled could touch Rs 100 crore or even higher, as crowds of complainants continue to approach the station with claims of fraud.
The couple’s sudden disappearance came shortly after they sold their residence and vehicles, and police have begun a search of the recently sold property while maintaining that every possible step is being taken to trace the duo, who are believed to have fled to an African country.
Police said the case has been registered under section 4 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982, section 21 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019, and sections 318 and 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and are being treated as a serious offence involving cheating and criminal breach of trust.
The couple, who are originally from the Mampuzhakary region of Alappuzha district in Kerala, allegedly targeted both small and large investors with the lure of high returns, and after collecting massive sums, shut down their operations and went incommunicado.