MUMBAI: "During 1998, when militancy raged in Kashmir, I travelled to Srinagar when I was with ITC and no other staffer was really willing to go up there. My job was to help recover a property belonging to the company that was then used by the paramilitary to fight terrorists...I now want to desperately meet the prime minister to apprise him of the plight of investors who have lost their life savings on NSEL but I feel so helpless," said an angst-ridden Renu Ahuja who traded on the crisis-ridden bourse that has defaulted in paying out over Rs 5,000 crore to thousands of investors.The 65-year-old resident of Vasant Vihar in Delhi invested around Rs 46 lakh cumulatively that she received after having quit as assistant legal manager from the cigarette to hotels chain in 2008. She and her husband, Jatindar Ahuja (72), a former Engineers India employee, cumulatively put in a little over a crore of rupees to trade on the commodity exchange till it went kaput by July-end.The Ahujas represent a not so insignificant proportion of retirees who have invested a large part of their retirement corpus into contracts that have all but shut down the exchange. These people were lured by the high returns offered by two dozen borrowers, involved in commodity trading and processing to around 13,000 investors, including HNIs and ultra high HNIs, using the exchange platform.The investors traded in contracts which allowed these borrowers to lift crores from them through the exchange against commodity stocks (which it now transpires were inadequate to non-existent).The case of the Ahujas is particularly poignant. The couple withdrew a substantial part of their money after July 12, when the government first directed the exchange to stop trading of the contracts. However, on the advice of their long-time and trusted broker, Integrated Commodity Trades -- which derived comfort from exchange authorities that "problems were settled," -- reinvested Rs 60 lakh into the contracts just 10 days after pulling out."That was the most unfortunate part," said Jatindar Ahuja who, though bitter about his broker not having done "adequate investigation," said he does not mistrust his broker's best intentions towards its client. But in this respect the Ahujas are not alone. In Mumbai's tony suburb of Bandra, widower Kamala Kapoor (72), invested Rs 50 lakh of savings on the advice of her financial advisor on July 12 - the day the government directed NSEL to stop trading.Kapoor invested through Motilal Oswal. "My father had left me some money and shares like M&M... I also had some money of my own which I earned as a freelance writer... I've lost that and though I have three sons, I cannot think of having to be financially dependent on them. It hurts badly."Kapoor's son, Nikhil Kapoor, a voice-over artist, says that in hindsight he ought not to have depended on the financial advisor to reckon the safety of the product.The government, many retired investors feel, has been insensitive to the investors' plight. Arvind Mayaram, economic affairs secretary, who is heading the NSEL probe, reportedly told a clutch of them recently: You are well-informed investors. Why did you trade on NSEL?"In response, Mahendra Thacker, a south Mumbai-based caterer who invested around Rs 82 lakh for over a year on behalf of his 69-year-old wife Darshana, says, "The government gave NSEL the no-objection certificate to trade.... how can it blame the investors? Then again we are not HNIs... we are just middle class people who thought we could at least earn positive rates of return amid soaring inflation and falling stock markets."Thacker, who says he resides as a tenant in upmarket Walkeshwar, invested through Systematix, Motilal Oswal and Anand Rathi. He says people are stuck as they allowed brokers to roll over their positions to earn monthly returns.Other investors whose money is stuck include Sudhir Maheshwari, a practising CA in Connaught Place, Delhi. He and his family put in around 25 lakh investible surplus six months ago. Maheshwari feels bad it was on his advice that his daughter-in-law put in the highest share from an FD that had come up for renewal. He says he invested as the government took no action against NSEL despite the consumer affairs ministry having issued it a show cause notice on violations of trade in October 2012. Also, Anand Rathi, his broker, was past president, BSE."I never imagined this could have happened since no action was ever taken," said Maheshwari.Harshadrai Mehta (70) a former businessman in Mumbai, invested Rs 25 lakh through Anand Rathi on the suggestion of a person who worked in the bullion department of the brokerage. 50% of his savings have been wiped out.Ashok Kadakia (72) worked as agent for pharma company invested Rs 55 lakh from funds withdrawn out of provident fund and through property sale on the advice of Anand Rathi and Systematix.Anil Sinha (61), small-time property developer, Mumbai, invested Rs 33 lakh in his and his family name six to seven months ago through CD Commosearch. Purpose was to earn a kind of "monthly pension." Now, has lost a large chunk of savings. Not so hopeful that defaulting borrowers can pay back money.