JOIN USVashista credit co-op fraud: CEO, son surrender
The CEO of Sri Vashista Credit Souharda Sahakari Ltd (SVCSSL) and his son surrendered themselves before a local court on Thursday, months after the co-op went bus last July.
K N Venkatanarayana and his son K V Krishna Prasad, who is one of the directors in the credit co-op, are accused of cheating dozens of depositors in the multi-crore financial fraud.
Lured by high interest rates, many senior citizens had opened fixed deposits (FDs) in the co-op that was founded 26 years ago and is headquartered in South Bengaluru.
Things started going downhill when the co-op stopped paying the monthly interest in November 2020, citing the pandemic. Then in June last year, it stopped depositors from withdrawing cash. The management asked for time to set things right. But there was little improvement in the affairs.
About 70 depositors approached the police top brass. Subsequently, the Hanumanthanagar police registered an FIR under IPC sections pertaining to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and misappropriation.
The investigation was, however, stalled as the SVCSSL authorities got the FIR stayed by a court.
But on March 14, 2022, the Hanumanthanagar police registered another FIR, this time on the basis of a complaint filed by Narayan Hegde, Deputy General Manager, Karnataka State Souharda Federal Co-operative Ltd, an elected self-regulatory organisation of cooperatives registered under the Karnataka Souharda Sahakari Act, 1997.
Hegde based his complaint on the grievance of another depositor named Dr A V N Acharya, who said he had lost Rs 21 crore because the co-op neither paid him interest nor returned the principal.
The second FIR has named 56 people, including the father-son duo, one SVCSSL official, nine office-bearers and 46 borrowers who had defaulted on loan payments to the co-op.
The father-son duo has been remanded in judicial custody.
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