The special court for the trial of cases under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act in Coimbatore on Thursday (April 16) sentenced the proprietors of a chit firm to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for cheating 130 investors of ₹80.57 lakh.
Special Judge M.N. Senthil Kumar awarded the punishment to L. Dharmalingam and P. Ganesan of Tiruppur.
According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the police, the duo ran Sri Vetrivel Murugan Chits and Arulmigu Vetri Murugan Chits Private Limited headquartered in Tiruppur. They collected a total of ₹80,57,861 from 130 investors under different chit schemes and cheated them.
A case was registered against the two firms and the two proprietors by the EOW Coimbatore unit in 2016, which was later handed over to the EOW unit in Tiruppur.
The court, after the completion of the trial, found the proprietors guilty of four offences charged against them and awarded punishments that would run concurrently. The court imposed a total fine of ₹93,80,000 on the two chit firms and the two proprietors, which should be paid to the investors as compensation.
