Couple begins legal battle to get back deposited money

Thiruvananthapuram: An elderly couple from Neyyattinkara has started a legal battle to get back the Rs 20 lakh which was deposited in Nirmal Krishna Chit Funds, a private finance firm, years ago.
Girikumar, 66, of Neyyattinkara, a retired employee of Keltron, and his wife Leena, 60, had deposited all service benefits at Nirmal Krishna Chit Funds in 2017 eyeing a Rs 14,000 interest per lakh offered by the firm.The couple received the interest on time only for five months and later the firm shut its doors due to some financial issues.
They were denied the money even during the marriage of their daughter and were forced to take a bank loan to meet the expenses. Due to it, the family is debt-ridden now and is struggling to find money for treatment and studies of their son. They are now on the verge of facing revenue recovery procedure from the bank after they failed to repay the loan on time.
On Thursday, Cantonment police registered a case against 38 people, including Ajayakumar, the director of the firm, on their complaint under sections 3, 21, 5 and 23 of Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act-2019 and also under the sections of IPC 406 for criminal breach of trust and 420 for cheating.
“We waited for years for the money believing the promise given by the director of the firm. Now we have no faith and have decided to move legally. I suffered a stroke, and even for the treatment they did not give me the money. We are on the verge of committing suicide if we fail to receive the money,” said Girikumar.
Thousands of people, who deposited money at the firm, were allegedly cheated by the firm and there are several cases registered at various police stations in the district.