Latest news with #TNPID
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Emu farm MD gets 10 years rigorous imprisonment for cheating investors Rs 7.61 crore
COIMBATORE: A special court for the trial of cases under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act in Coimbatore on Friday awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment to the managing director of an emu farm for cheating 385 investors of Rs 7.61 crore. The court imposed a fine of Rs 7.89 crore on him. Guru alias Gurusamy, 46, was functioning as managing director of Susi Emu Farms (India) Private Limited at Perundurai in Erode district. The farm had opened branch offices in Salem, Coimbatore, Namakkal and a few other places in the state. In 2012, the firm offered various ponzi schemes to lure investors. It received investments of Rs 7.61 crore from 385 investors in Salem district, said K Muthu Vijayan, special public prosecutor for the TNPID court. The Salem economic offences wing (EOW) police registered a case against Gurusamy and two managers of the firm, Kathirvel and Suresh, under sections 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5 of the TNPID Act in 2012. After hearing the prosecution and defence counsel arguments, special court judge M N Senthil Kumar delivered the verdict on Friday evening. The court awarded ten years rigorous imprisonment to Gurusamy and imposed a fine of Rs 7.89 crore. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo The two managers of the firm were acquitted. Gurusamy was spending his days behind bars in connection with three cases registered in Namakkal, Erode, and Coimbatore district. The EOW police in Erode district froze his property worth Rs 35 crore. The properties were auctioned. The amount of Rs 35 crore has been kept in the district revenue officer's bank account. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
New Indian Express
26-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Amend TNPID Act, allow IOs attach properties in financial fraud cases: Madras High Court
MADURAI: Observing that District Revenue Officers (DROs), who are authorised to file attachment applications, are overburdened resulting in delay in attaching and selling properties of accused persons in financial fraud cases, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has directed the state government to take steps to amend the relevant provisions of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act, 1997, delegating the power to investigating officers. Justice B Pugalendhi gave the direction while hearing a batch of petitions filed by some of the victims in a case registered by Economic Offences Wing, Madurai, against Apsal India Pvt Ltd and its sister concerns, which allegedly lured depositors promising high returns but cheated them. The petitioners alleged delay in the investigation and sought to speed up the same or transfer the probe to some other agency. The judge pointed out that in cases of the above nature, if the government is satisfied that a financial establishment is not likely to return the deposits, the designated officers under TNPID Act, namely the DROs, can pass an interim order of attachment attaching the money or other properties of such financial establishments and later file an application before the Special Court within 30 days to make the attachment order absolute. They can also seek a direction to sell the attached properties through public auction so that the amount could be returned to the victims. However, since DROs are already overburdened with other works, there is a delay in filing attachment applications, the judge noted and gave the above direction to enable the investigating officers to file the applications directly. Justice Pugalendhi further recalled that in 2020, the court had appointed a committee under a retired HC judge to ensure the deposits are returned to the victims. But the chairman of the committee recused himself from the post in 2023 citing non-cooperation by the company. While explaining the delay in investigation, the investigation officer (IO) contended that based on the court's direction, EOW had been only assisting the committee all these years and after the chairperson's recusal, they have sought a clarification from the court on further course of action. Rejecting this as a lame excuse, Justice Pugalendhi observed that the appointment of committee did not preclude the IO from investigating the case. Since the accused persons had obtained bail and anticipatory bail by undertaking to co-operate with the committee and later failed to do so, the judge advised the IO to move necessary applications to cancel their bail. Further noting that the case has been pending since 2017, the judge directed the IO to expedite the probe and file final report, preferably within six months.
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Amend TNPID Act for quicker attachment of assets: HC
Madurai: Taking into account the delay in attaching properties of accused people in financial fraud cases, observed that the govt should take steps to amend the relevant provisions under Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act, 1997. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The amendment would enable the investigating officer to file necessary applications directly before the special courts and ensure that properties identified by them are attached at the earliest and appropriated. Justice B Pugalendhi observed that the object of TNPID is to ensure that victims get back their money. Under the existing provisions of the Act, after an interim attachment by the govt, an application has to be filed before the concerned trial court to make it absolute, thereby causing inordinate delay. The judge said the district revenue officer (DRO), who is special officer under the Act, has to file necessary applications before the TNPID court to sell the properties. But, being burdened with other tasks, DROs are not paying any attention to their duty under provisions of TNPID Act, thereby resulting in inordinate delay in filing applications. "Considering the subsequent development of the enactments in the BNS, the govt shall take the initiative to amend the relevant provisions under the TNPID Act, enabling the investigating officer to file necessary applications directly before the special courts and to ensure that the properties identified by them are attached at the earliest and appropriated," the judge observed. The court was hearing the petition filed by S Athista Raj, seeking a direction to the Madurai EOW officials to complete the investigation in the case registered in 2017 and file the final report before the concerned court. Another petition was filed by V Ravichandran, seeking to transfer the case registered by EOW to any other investigating agency. The case of the prosecution is that the company named APSAL India Ltd., and other sister concerns, collected deposits from a large number of people to fund its business operations. The company assured that it would either return the matured amount with huge interest or allot a house site to the depositors. However, they cheated the depositors. Therefore, the case was registered by the Madurai EOW officials in 2017. The judge directed the Madurai EOW officials to conclude the investigation in the case as expeditiously as possible, preferably within six months.
The Hindu
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Objective of TNPID Act is to ensure that victims get back their money, says HC
The objective of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act was to ensure that the victims get back their money and registration of an FIR alone would not serve any purpose, observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court while hearing petitions pertaining to Neomax financial fraud case Justice B. Pugalendhi observed that the data provided by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) disclosed that not even 10% of the amount had been disbursed to the victims. The government had a moral responsibility to ensure that the victims got back their money. The court observed that TNPID Act was enacted to regulate financial establishments that were exploiting depositors by promising high returns and subsequently defaulting on repayments leading to widespread public distress. Many such entities had emerged in Tamil Nadu targeting the middle class and poor investors often leaving them without any effective recourse leading to societal and economic suffering of the public. The government introduced the legislation in public interest to protect the depositors' rights. It appears that the EOW officers are under the impression that they are supposed to act/prosecute only after a case was reported. They have to understand that they are also liable to prevent such offences. If any company was offering interest above the rate of interest prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India, it was the duty of the EOW to ascertain from the company whether they have any registration or authority to collect the deposits and whether they were having means to give higher returns, the court observed. Though every month such cases were being reported, greedy people were also depositing money without ascertaining whether the companies were genuine or not. Special courts have been constituted to deal with offences of such nature. Provisions have been made to seize the properties and bank accounts of the accused and to realise the amount. A very few people have benefited out of this Act and got their money back. It appears mainly because of the outdated procedures. The EOW was established not only to prosecute offenders, but also to ensure that the amount cheated by the accused is appropriated and disbursed to the victims, the court observed.
