Couple who duped chit funds, moneylenders traced to kin’s house

Coimbatore: A 64-year-old man and his wife, who went missing from their house on Chetty Street on Sunday night after they duped chit fund firms and moneylenders of around Rs20 crore, were traced to one of their relatives’ house at Peelamedu on Tuesday morning.
The Selvapuram police identified the couple as B Sridhar, 64, and S Dhanalakshmi, 54, of Savithri Nagar at Chetty Street. They were into wholesale gold business.
An investigation officer said the duo had availed chit fund schemes and received a few kilograms of gold. “However, they didn’t pay the chit fund amount. They also borrowed crores of rupees from various moneylenders in the city and didn’t repay them. When they started pestering the couple to return the gold and borrowed money, the duo left the house around 9.30pm on Sunday and switched off their mobile phones.”
According to the officer, the couple left a note at the house stating they had decided to end their lives, as they were not able to repay money to the chit fund firms and moneylenders. “They said they faced huge losses in the gold business during the pandemic. They also said the people who borrowed money from them were not returning the same.”
The couple’s son S Arunkumar, 35, lodged a complaint with the Selvapuram police, who registered a missing person case on Monday evening and traced them at their kin’s house at Peelamedu on Tuesday morning. “We did not receive any complaints against the couple. Hence, they were let off,” the officer said.