BENGALURU: The rate of corruption and crime continue to escalate around the country. Everyday numerous people encounter fraudulent activities, in some way or the other. Scammers lack a conscience and it’s mostly the lower strata of the society who fall prey. Shaken by one such incident is a 67 year old security guard from Puliyakulam. Mr. Anthony Martin saved 200 every week, over a period of five years to invest the total amount he saved in a chit fund firm, which ran by the name PACL India Limited. But, to his dismay, when he went to fetch the principal amount back on 2nd of August, he only found that the owners had shut down the company and absconded. Anthony was heartbroken after this incident, as saving 200 bucks a week was an enormous deal for him, which had now vanished in thin year along with the conmen. "I am old and uneducated. That is my hard earned money and I do not know what to do. If action is not initiated against the guilty, I will commit suicide," expresses Martin. 

The company had promised to give back the money on 2nd of August. Based on this, a lot of people, mostly poor got convinced to invest their heard earned money into this bogus scheme. The scheme ripped almost 400 people of their money. These people assembled together from several places including Tirupur, Erode, Ooty, and Dharmapuri to file a complaint with the city crime batch, but only in vain. This failed attempt enraged the inflicted mass to gather outside the commissioner’s office. Among the victims was a 40-year old woman who was entitled to an amount of 50,000 from the phony company. Most of these people are illiterate and daily wage earners, whose only intention is to save or make money. These people are usually unaware of the procedure involved, making them easy prey to the miscreants. Another victim of this pseudo scheme was P Sakthivel, hailing from Tirupur. Sakthivel responses, "I am supposed to get 2 lakh. The police are not taking any action. The victims said they would approach the chief minister, if police failed to take any step.” 

Investigation led by the economic offences wing of the city police revealed that company was based out of New Delhi and they had received accusations against the firm, around six months back. Back in Delhi, a case has been already registered and CBI has initiated the probe. A cop sheds light on the investigation process, “We can't register a separate plaint. CBI has instructed local police to register their complaint online so that even these people could be added as witnesses in the case. The residents have been informed about this and we have started the process." said a cop.

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