Trader who killed kin had lost crores in crown chit fund scam
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 23
After causing a couple of suicides and protests by victims in December 2016, the multi-crore crown chit fund scam is back to haunt the state police which failed to nab the two primary accused in the case.
Davinder Garg, who shot himself after killing his two children and wife in Bathinda on Friday, was the leading agent of the chit fund company in the region. He was also on the advisory board of the Bathinda region board of the company.
4 accused held
The police on Friday arrested four persons for abetting the suicide of Davinder Garg. The accused have been identified as Manjinder Singh Dhaliwal, Praveen Bansal, Mani Bansal, residents of Bathinda, and Ashok Kumar, resident of Rama Mandi
The matter was brought to the limelight today by the victims through the Crown Chit Fund Sangharsh Committee. The committee members, wishing anonymity, said Garg had lost crores of rupees of his own and of his relatives. Further, hundreds of persons had invested in the company through him and they were seeking their money back.
The Punjab Police Crime Branch had taken up the investigation after receiving 470 complaints in 2015 when the scam came to light. The main accused, Mohammad Jameel, CEO of the company, was never arrested. He is said to be in England. The second accused, Jagjit Singh, managing director of the company, was arrested once in September 2015 but got bail on an undertaking that he would return the money of the investors. Jagjit allegedly fled the country.
Two persons from Sangrur had committed suicide after suffering losses in the scam. Later, the accused allegedly floated a bitcoin company and lured the victims again to reinvest “if they wanted to get their dues back”.
Garg mentions in the suicide note that he suffered huge losses in the bitcoin investment. Bathinda SSP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said the investigation was on to find the mode of investment. He said bitcoin was banned in India and the police were taking help of experts. The scam started with the Crown investment company. The managers kept opening new companies to lure the investors. The bitcoin company, opened in Malaysia, where fugitive accused Jagjit Singh was also present, was the eighth company floated by the accused.
