Chennai: Tamil Nadu Police are on a lookout for promoters of an investment firm after a mega fraud of Rs 6,000 crore was detected in the state.
A Vellore-based LNS International Financial Services (IFS) has swindled a mammoth Rs 6,000 crore from several investors across the state, including hundreds of policemen.
Police sources told IANS that the company had appointed more than 10,000 agents to canvass investments and was even offering an interest of Rs 8,000 per month for Rs 1 lakh.
The promoters of the company, Lakshminarayanan Sundaram, Sundaram Vedhanarayanan, and Sundaram Bhakthavatchalam from Vellore, Gajendran of Vysarpedi, and Vivek of Erode are absconding. The Economic offense wing of the Tamil Nadu police is on the trial of the absconding promoters.
Police said that 247 documents, 56 laptops, 16 computers, 15 mobile phones, 40 gold sovereigns, Rs 1.05 crore in cash, and a car were confiscated by the Economic Offense Wing of the police after raids were conducted at 21 places in the state.
Sources in the Economic Offenses Wing told IANS that officially 79,000 people have invested in the company and many are yet to lodge formal complaints with the department.
Police said that the promoters had floated several companies and collected deposits in crores. According to police, the agents would convince the investors that Lakshminarayanan was an expert in stock market and would reap in returns using his brilliance.
The Madras High Court intervened in the matter after one investor, P. Karthik complained that he was cheated by the company. Justice N. Satish Kumar of the Madras High court directed the police to register a case and investigate the plea moved by P. Karthik that he was cheated by the company.
In a related development, an agent of the IFS company, Vinod Kumar (40) died by suicide after failing to repay the money that he had collected from several people to invest in the company. Sources in the family told IANS that Vinod Kumar had collected around Rs 5 crore from several people and invested in the company. He had himself sold his land and deposited Rs 50 lakh in the company.
Police said that Vinod Kumar in his suicide note said: “I had helped many people deposit money in IFS. Please retrieve the money and give it to the victims. The depositors who trusted in me should get their hard-earned money back at least after my death.”
–IANS