Vashista co-op chairman, director give statement to cops

The chairperson and director of Sri Vashista Credit Souharda Sahakari Ltd, accused of cheating dozens of depositors, appeared before the Hanumanthanagar police on Friday night after a local court denied them anticipatory bail.

Venkata Narayana K N, the chairperson of the bank, and his son Krishna Prasad, the director, had moved the 56th city civil court seeking anticipatory bail but their applications were rejected.

Police said the suspects hadn't replied to their notices to appear for questioning and instead tried to get bail. After their pleas were rejected, they appeared before the investigating officer at 8 pm. Police took their statement and asked them to come back on Saturday morning.

The credit cooperative society, headquartered in South Bengaluru, is accused of cheating the depositors to the tune of crores of rupees by failing to pay them interest or return their principal amount.

The co-op stopped paying interest last November and also stopped the cash withdrawal facility. It cited the pandemic for the crisis and sought more time to solve the issues but later stopped responding to depositors' requests.

FIR on cheating, forgery

Police have registered an FIR under IPC sections pertaining to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and misappropriation following complaints from several depositors.

The co-op was founded 25 years ago and comes under the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. Customers didn’t have to open a savings bank account to keep fixed deposits (FDs) at the co-op and offered them high interest. Many people, especially senior citizens, opened the FDs.

Meanwhile, Venkata Narayana has resigned as the chairman of the Akhila Karnataka Brahmana Mahasabha.