Odisha chit fund investors lose hope after cancellation of affidavits

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, May 30

Thousands of gullible investors in Odisha, who had pinned hopes on the Commission of Inquiry to get back the money they had invested in chit fund companies, are now in a state of shock as the Commission has cancelled over a lakh of affidavits during preliminary screening on the grounds that they have not been prepared as per legal procedures.

As per available information, the Commission, while going through these affidavits, has found that most of them have not been prepared as per legal requirements. While some affidavits have court stamps of Rs 3 without the signature of the investors, some have no mention of the amount of the money invested in the chit fund companies.

Apart from this, the Commission has also noticed that in some affidavits the investors have mentioned the amount of returns they were to receive from the chit fund companies after maturity instead of the amount they had actually invested.

Besides, detailed mention of the money defrauded and the name and address of the chit fund companies are missing in some of the affidavits.

Chairman of the Chit Fund Commission of Inquiry, Justice MM Das said computerisation of the affidavits found correct in all respects is currently underway. He said he would look into the rejected affidavits later and, if necessary, an opportunity may be given to these people to do necessary corrections in their affidavits.

He, however, said it would be difficult for the Commission to accept the affidavits not having the name of the investors or any detailed information about the amount of defrauded money.

“Since the investors whose affidavits have been rejected might have submitted fresh affidavits, it is not possible to think about this at the moment,” he pointed out.

Briefing the media yesterday, Justice Das said the Commission will receive sufficient material from the digitisation centre in the next 10 days to proceed to identify small investors.

“After the identification of the small investors, I will submit an interim report to the state government to release a substantial amount for them,” he added.

It may be mentioned that the Commission had received over 10 lakh affidavits from the duped investors between August 5, 2013 and October 31, 2013 of which about four lakh valid affidavits have been computerised. After the data entry of these affidavits, there would be categorisation of the investors and the chit fund companies after which the Commission will start hearings.