A Division Bench of the High Court has ordered constitution of a three-member Committee headed by a retired judge to oversee the auctioning of properties of AgriGold on Friday.
As many as 40 lakh people had lost their money by investing in Agri Gold group. Of this, 32 lakh people are depositors, while eight lakh people are agents. The group collected deposits from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The group has to repay about Rs. 7,000 crore to its depositors.
The High Court ordered to auction properties in two phases. In phase-I, 14 properties would be auctioned, and another set of 6 properties would be auctioned in phase-II. The group has provided details of 300 properties to the court, according to Shravan Kumar, one of the counsels of depositors, who lost their money.
The group’s 170 acre property at Keesara in Krishna district, about 25 flats in Bangalore, and 170 acre in Bidadi in Karnataka and a few commercial properties would be auctioned. The group claimed that an acre at Keesara would cost Rs. 6.25 crore and land at Bidadi would cost Rs. 1300 crore. Each flat at Bangalore would cost Rs. 40 lakh, he explained.
Telangana Agrigold customers and Agents welfare association president and petitioner Andalu Rameshbabu said that they were happy with interim orders of the court. “We have fully confidence and proudly say that each and every customer will get their deposited amount very soon,” he said.
Depositors like A.N. Phaneendra from Kolar in Karnataka said that they were not “fully happy” with the judgment. It lacked clarity on how much time it would take to complete the process. “Many people have invested in AgriGold trusting us. They are torturing us for repayment. As much as Rs 10,00,000 was invested from our village,” he said. Welcoming the court judgment, Viswanath Reddy, an agent from Anantapur said, “Any little chance to the AgriGold group would push the depositors into doldrums again.” More than Rs. 1.70 crore was deposited through him. As much as Rs. 70 crore has to be repaid to depositors in Anantapur district alone. And Visakhapatnam team would have deposited more than Rs.12 crore, he said.
The AgriGold group has to clear Rs. 391 crore worth dues to various banks on as on June 2015. A consortium of bankers, including, Andhra Bank (AB), State Bank of India (SBI), Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Karur Vysya Bank (KVB), and Indian Bank are the banks that have extended loans to the group.
According to sources, group company Agri Gold Foods and Farms has to repay Rs. 82 crore to Andhra Bank and Rs. 20 crore to SBI. Agri Gold Organics has to pay Rs. 55 crore to Andhra Bank and Rs. 20 crore to SBI. Agri Gold Projects owes Rs. 234 crore to AB, SBI, IOB, KVB and IB. The total dues amount to Rs. 391 crore. The total loans sanctioned to the Agri Gold Projects is Rs. 269 crore. Of this, the group has repaid Rs. 35 crore, say sources.
As many as 40 lakh people had lost their money by investing in Agri Gold group
