india

Updated: Feb 08, 2019 19:17 IST

The Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh has decided to withdraw cases against agents of chit fund companies which were registered in the last seven years.

The government is also working on a policy to return the money of investors who were duped in chit fund scams during the erstwhile BJP government.

A cabinet meeting held on Tuesday evening approved the decision to initiate the process of taking back the cases.

Congress in its election manifesto promised that criminal cases against local youths who worked as agents of these chit fund companies will be taken back.

During its election campaign, the Congress had raised the issue of alleged chit fund scam worth Rs 5,000 crore and claimed it was committed under the protection of the Raman Singh government in the state. The party had promised to probe the alleged scam and take action against the guilty.

“As many as 286 agents were arrested between 2012 and 2018. Total 424 cases were registered in connection with irregular chit fund companies in the state in which about 2,70,616 investors had deposited around Rs 1,105 crore,” informed Taran Prakash Sinha, director, public relations, Chhattisgarh government.

A senior police official looking after the case said that around 200 chit fund companies were operating in Chhattisgarh in the last seven years and all of them are under scanner.

“The cabinet also discussed about the formulating a policy to return of money to investors, who were mostly villagers. The government will study the model of other states where investors’ money have been returned by the state and then formulate a policy regarding this,” said a senior official in chief minister’s office.

Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that Congress is misleading the people and has not given the exact date for returning the money of the villagers.

“In their (Congress) manifesto, they said that will return the money as soon as they will come in power and now Congress is saying that a policy will be made. Congress is misleading people and will not return the money,” BJP spokesperson Sachidanand Upasane said.

On allegations of BJP leaders being involved in the chit fund scam, he said it was BJP which made strict laws against chit fund companies in Chhattisgarh. “We have started an awareness drive due to which chit fund companies fled from state.”