Mumbai investor scam: Victims threaten mass immolation

Yavatmal: Hundreds of aggrieved RD Agents and Depositors of the infamous Maitreya Plots and Structural Private Limited of Mumbai thronged the District Collector’s office in Yavatmal and threatened the administration of mass immolation if their hard earned money deposited with the Private Finance Company is not returned to them immediately.A delegation led by ‘Agents and Depositors Annyaya Nivaran Samiti’ Nalini Chokote and Alka Waghare have met the District Collector Sachindra Pratap Singh here on Thursday and submitted an application to him for his intervention in the multi crore fraud episode and requested him to move the State Govt to seize the property of the finance company and thereby realize their hard earned money by selling it.The District Collector has patiently heard them and assured them of his prompt assistance and advised them to make the list of depositors and the agents along with the amount due to them and the same should be submitted to him for further action.Later while talking to the media persons, the ladies who worked as the Recurring Deposit (RD) agents of the company and collected more than Rs. 200 crore from over three lakh depositors across the district, narrated their bitter experience with the company and said that they are being threatened by their respective depositors for their money back. “We are facing hardship from our family members too as the depositors are threatening them of dire consequences if we fail to return their hard earned money,” said Nisha Tijare.The brief back drop of the cheating case was that the company was floated by one Varsha Madhusudan Satpalkar sometime in 1998.The company offered lucrative interest rates to its depositors and commission for its agents. Initially the company worked as per their promises but later it ran into irregularities. Their cheques started bouncing and the panic stricken depositors across the State started lodging complaints in the police station against the company.The Nashik Police have arrested the Managing Director Varsha Satpalkar and they have seized some of the properties of the company.The Yavatmal based office of the company at local SBI square was also closed and the manger found absconding since 2015 onwards.“We have lodged complaint with evidence to the Economic Wing of Yavatmal Police but of no avail,” lamented Amita Kubade, adding that one of the depositors Sunil Alone (45) of Yavatmal has committed suicide in 2016 as he could not withstand the blow from the fraudsters.“We too are in a mood to opt for self immolation as we are daunted by the depositors and our family members,” said Nalini Chakote and added that billions of rupees have been collected by the company through the agents from across the State and outside Maharashtra before pulling down their shutters across the State.