Chit fund fraud victims up in arms against police

Our Correspondent

Talwara (Hoshiarpur), October 18

Victims of a Chit fund company fraud held a protest against the Talwara police in front of the police station and raised slogans against the state government and the police.

The protesters alleged that despite an FIR registered by the Talwara police against suspects on June 6 this year, the police failed to arrest them till now.

They alleged that the police were deliberately trying to protect the suspect as the FIR too was delayed for too long. After the complaint was filed by the victims in 2018, a case was registered in June 2019.

Sukhdev Dadwal, who was leading the protesters, said Fortune Premium Netmart Private Limited was started in Talwara in 2015 with the claim of good returns in short period against deposits made by people under various schemes. A large number of local residents had invested lakhs of rupees in schemes of the company but its owner Rupinder Singh, alias Rikki, fled from Talwara in 2018 after collecting hard-earned money of the public. Afterwards, the victims had filed a complaint against Rikki with the Talwara police, but they took an year to register an FIR against them that too naming only three of the six suspects.

The protesters said the police could not arrest any of the suspects by now while the Investigating Officer (IO) had also been changed twice in the case. Hence, it was clear that the police were protecting them.

They alleged that despite their requests made to SSP Gaurav Garg twice for their arrest, the police failed to nab any of them. As soon as the SHO of the Talwara police station, Surjit Singh Mangat, came to know about the demonstration in front of the station, he reached the spot despite being posted on a poll duty. He tried to persuade people to lift the dharna but people were adamant to not to stop the protest till the arrest of the suspects.

Later, the SHO sought four day’s time for speedy action in the case. He promised them that the IO would not be involved in any other work other than this. On his assurance, the dharna was lifted for four days.

They warned that if the police could not arrest the suspects in four days, a dharna by them, along with victims of other chit fund companies, will be resumed in front of the police station for an indefinite period.