Depositors block highway demanding police to help get their money from a chit fund operator

Around 200 people, including women, resorted to a road blockade stir on the Madurai-Quilon highway demanding the police to help get their money from a woman chit operator on Wednesday.

Police said that Kaleeswari of Ooranipatti Kallarai Street, Srivilliputtur in Virudhunagar district, was operating a chit business for over 25 years.

The modus operandi was that the woman collected money from the public every month and gave them to the members. The amount disbursed was in the denomination of ₹ 1 lakh to ₹ 25 lakh each. She was also giving interest on the deposits collected from some of the people in the vicinity, a police officer said.

However, in the last two years or so, Kaleeswari faced difficulties in collecting the dues from the members in each group. Unable to reveal the truth, she kept on collecting money from new members and there were delay in giving the chit amount on promised dates.

Suspecting something wrong in the dealing, when some of the members demanded their money back, Kaleeswari refused and on many occasions, there were wordy altercations.

“As she was familiar with some of the police personnel, they also dodged from registering a case,” women claimed.

As the suspicion grew among the depositors that the woman may not settle the dues properly, they lodged a complaint with the police. With no justice appearing to be delivered, the depositors squatted on the Madurai-Quilon highway to draw the attention of the police.

Ramachandran, one of the agitators, said that the police arrived at the scene after about an hour and promised to register a case against Kaleeswari in about two days following which they dispersed.

Meanwhile, the relatives of Kaleeswari shouted at some of the depositors and even threatened to take legal action. Some other relatives said that they were in touch with the TVK functionaries.

However, police said that they would investigate into the complaint and register cases as per the law.