Mancherial: The hub for financial crimes

Some credit cooperative societies are luring customers by promising higher rates of interest (RoI) than that offered by scheduled banks. They are able to draw huge deposits.

Mancherial: Mancherial town is gradually becoming a hub of financial crimes. It has registered four major financial crimes over the last few years.

Some credit cooperative societies are luring customers by promising higher rates of interest (RoI) than that offered by scheduled banks. They are able to draw huge deposits.

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However, they are allegedly diverting the funds after a period of time, following lack of a monitoring system by both the union and State governments. They are reportedly investing the funds in real estate and other sectors.

In the latest instance, Kamera Chandramouli from Chandravelli in Bellampalli mandal, Rathnam Srikanth and Golam Kartheek alias Hanumanth of Bellampalli were apprehended on Saturday for allegedly cheating approximately 88 farmers belonging to the district by collecting Rs 2.76 crore under the pretext of selling tractors at discounted rates. Punna Kumara Swamy, chairman of a company through which the farmers were cheated was absconding.

Before this, there has been the incident of about 10,000 investors of the First Finance Credit Cooperative Society Limited’s (FFCCSL) Mancherial and 12 other branches in Telangana being unable to withdraw their savings after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested the chairman of the society and gave freeze orders for their accounts in connection with the multi-crore Karnataka Valmiki scam.

2023
Ujwala Credit Cooperative Society Limited was shut down after raising Rs 3.5 crore in the form of fixed and recurring deposits from 3,000 members in August 2023. Cases were booked against the organisers for cheating customers. Floated in 2020, it had two branches in Mancherial, Bellampalli, Luxettipet, Sircilla and Vemulawada.

2020

Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Limited (ACCSL), established in 2017, launched its branch in Hi-Tech City Colony of Mancherial town. It could attract 20 lakh customers enticing 14 percent of RoI on fixed deposits. It opened 800 branches soon after two years following inception. It had 30,000 members. However, it stopped operations in January 2020, shattering hopes of 2,000 members who invested Rs 20 crore in Mancherial district.

The assets of the society worth Rs 1,500 crore were attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The property of the society is located in Rajasthan, Haryana, New Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh states. Branches of the entity were closed. Gullible customers are still unable to draw funds.

2019

Mudra Agriculture and Skill Development Multi-State Cooperative Society gathered around Rs 200 crore from thousands of customers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states by offering 12 percent of RoI from 2017 to 2019. However, it suspended operations in 2020 due to the financial crisis. Subsequently, cases were registered against the founders. Victims are left with no option but to approach courts. It was set up in 2017.