Couple uses chit fund to swindle people of Rs 12 lakh

A 56-year-old man and his wife have been arrested for running an illegal chit fund from their house in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar and cheating people of Rs 12 lakh, police said on Saturday.

Mattathil Joseph Sebastian and his wife Rani were on the run for the last eight years. “They had been hiding in Port Blair with partially changed identities,” said Rajneesh Garg, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing).

The probe was initiated after six residents of Mayur Vihar Phase 3 filed complaints with New Ashok Nagar police station. It was alleged that the couple had been running a chit fund and promised handsome returns to the investors on the completion of fixed term. They, however, collected the investments and decamped.

“The probe was subsequently transferred to the Economic Offences Wing,” Garg added. Ten more victims reported against the couple and the total cheated amount rose to Rs 12 lakh. Police conducted raids at their permanent residence in Kerala’s Kottayam district. But it was found that they had disposed of their ancestral property. As no clue was found, they were declared proclaimed offender in September 2009.

Their home in Kerela was raided several times, but to no avail. The police team finally managed to trace their son Arun, who was working in Mumbai. “We reached Mumbai and Arun was examined. During interrogation, he disclosed that his parents were in Port Blair,” Garg said.

Mattathil and Rani were alerted and they shifted from there. Police continued the search and arrested them at GTB Hospital Residence Complex in north-east Delhi last week. They had made new voter ID cards and bank accounts.