Palayamkottai police have arrested four persons, including a promoter of a non-governmental organisation, for allegedly collecting over ₹ 60 lakh from women self-help group members with the promise of giving ₹1 lakh each as loan.
Police said Ravi (45) of Lakshmipuram near Mukkoodal in the district, who was running an NGO at Shanthi Nagar under Palayamkottai police station limits, had announced that his NGO would give ₹ 1 lakh as loan to those who had deposited ₹ 3,200 in the NGO and paid the membership fee of ₹ 300.
Trusting his words, a good number of women SHG members from Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts came to the office at Shanthi Nagar on Tuesday evening and paid ₹ 3,500 towards membership fee and deposit.
When the disbursal of ‘loan’ got delayed in the night, it triggered a heated argument between women employees of the NGO Chithra (30) of Nanjaankulam and Ramalakshmi (30) of Srivaikundam and the SHG members.
On getting information about the NGO’s ‘loan mela’, Inspector of Police, Palayamkottai, Periyasamy rushed to the spot and picked up Ravi, Chithra, Ramalakshmi and Office Assistant Ganesan for interrogation and seized ₹15 lakh from the office. The police also confiscated ‘membership cards’ and ‘loan records’ from the office.
When Mr. Periyasamy interrogated the foursome and the women depositors, the police came to know that ₹ 60 lakh had been collected from the women SHG members. Subsequently, all the four were arrested. The money is yet to be returned.