Cops delayed till it was too late: Victims

Bengaluru: Police are now probing the link between Ambidant Marketing’s Syed Ahmed Fareed and former minister G Janardhana Reddy, but people who invested crores of rupees in the company say the authorities turned a deaf ear to complaints they raised a year ago. The victims, who plan to stage a protest soon, said they complained to police officers, political leaders, CM HD Kumaraswamy and the PMO. To their shock, all local police did was provide protection to the firm’s office in Kanakanagar, RT Nagar.

Police officers said Ambidant had around 15,000 investors. The Enforcement Directorate has pegged the investment at Rs 954 crore.

ACP (east) Seemant Kumar Singh confirmed that the victims approached him, but denied that police failed to take action. “We arrested two people, including Fareed,” he said. “We froze their bank accounts and shared the information with I-T and ED.”

But the victims said a delay by police proved costly for many who invested.

Yakub Allah Baksh, 60, of Shivajinagar, said he invested ₹2 lakh and received returns of ₹36,000 after the first month. He then invested Rs 2 lakh more in his wife’s name. “I did not receive any money after that,” he said. “We have lost all our savings.”

Ziaullah Baig, 40, a tailor, invested Rs 3 lakh in March. He never received any returns. “I got a few friends to invest and now they too are in a fix,” he said.