Co-op society chief dupes members of Rs 15 crore

Demanding the arrest of M Suresh (35), MD of Ishwari Co-operative Credit Society, nearly 300 of the society’s 11,000 members and more than 100 dealers staged a protest in front of the Jeevanbimanagar police station on Monday. They charged that the MD had fled with their savings which were to be repaid to them on Monday.

Suresh had reportedly given them fire crackers and gifts last Deepavali but bought time for the payment of the dues. The gullible members trusted him as the society had been in existence for the last 20 years.

Last week, he assured the members that their dues would be paid on November 16. But before the expiry of the deadline, he along with his family members fled last Thursday.
Under the cracker fund, each member of the society had deposited Rs 300 per month for 10 months. The amount was to be repaid to every member along with fire crackers and gifts every Deepavali.

Suresh also ran two other financial units, the Ishwari Chit Funds Pvt Ltd and the Sureshwari Cracker Funds Pvt Ltd.

One of the members alleged that the accused was planning the escape since last year itself. “Suresh had sold his house located at Suddaguntepalya near C V Raman Nagar six months ago,” he said.

Srinivasmurthy K, a retired BSNL employee and resident of Ramaswamy Palya, said that problems had started last year itself. “We were given gold vouchers every Deepavali, which could be redeemed at select jewellery shops. But this time when we went to redeem the vouchers, we realised that the required payments to these shops were not made,” he said.

Suresh had collected Rs 3.30 crore under the cracker fund and the amount was deposited under the chit fund and various deposit schemes, he added.

The accused also offered various other schemes. Under one scheme, an individual had to deposit Rs 10,000 in five installments. Later, he/she was repaid the same amount over five equal installments and another Rs 10,000 was paid after the expiry of five years.
Ishwari Co-operative Housing Society also offered safe locker facility. The police fear that jewellery, money, property documents saved in the lockers could also be missing. A  case of cheating has been registered.

MD flees, apologises to his staff

M Suresh has left a note that  indicates that he intended to end his life.

In a letter addressed to the company’s staff, he said that he was dejected about his inability to pull the company out of the financial difficulties and was planning to commit suicide. He had also brought the matter to the notice of the Commissioner of Police.

“Some people won’t let me live peacefully,” he wrote. The accused also sought the forgiveness of the staff and the customers, and asked the employees to co-operate with the investigation.