Crackdown on chit fund companies gathers pace in Chhattisgarh

Ghanshyam Sahu, a resident of Uparwara of Durg, sold two acres of land to invest the proceeds in a chit fund company, only to realise he had been duped. Like hundreds others, Sahu had given up hope of getting the money back. So when he received Rs 9 lakh from the state government last month, he couldn’t believe his luck.
 

“I did not expect the money to be recovered,” he candidly told Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at an event in January.

Teejan Bai from Khursipar in Bhilai, who was also duped by a chit fund company, said she received Rs 3 lakh, which will now be used for the marriage of her children.

The recoveries are part of the Chhattisgarh government’s crackdown on the fly-by-night financial companies that duped people in the state. At a virtual programme chaired by Baghel last month, Rs 2.56 crore was returned to 3,274 duped chit fund investors of Durg district.

Baghel is personally monitoring the cases, as the Congress had vowed to take action against the fraudulent chit fund companies ahead of 2018 state polls. In its election manifesto, the party promised to return the money of people invested in different companies.

The state government had lodged 460 cases against 208 chit fund companies, 536 directors and 119 office bearers between 2015 and January 31, 2023 and 655 people have been arrested during this time. In 84 cases, the court has given the final order for the attachment of identified properties of 44 irregular financial companies whose estimated value is Rs 76.32 crore. In 54 cases, auction, recovery, agreement proceedings worth Rs 52.04 crore of 32 unregulated financial companies have been completed and the amount has been received in the government's account.

“As of now, Rs 30 crore have been returned to 37,000 people who were duped by fraud chit-fund companies,” Baghel said. The state government is taking strict action and the money is being returned to investors by attaching properties of fraudulent chit fund companies, he said, adding that Chhattisgarh was the only state in the country to give back money to people they lost to fraudulent financial firms.