All bank accounts of the Vuma group of companies that defaulted on payments to chit depositors and subscribers have been seized and the police are on the job of identifying the assets owned by the company, its promoters and their kith and kin.
The investigating authorities have initiated efforts to attach the properties to the court to enable the depositors to get their dues. Simultaneous efforts are also on by the police to identify the liabilities of the company and its promoters.
“We have asked the bankers to freeze the transactions of the Vuma group of companies and its promoters from Tuesday. We are also focussing on registered documents pertaining to the assets of the promoters. The depositors need not worry about their investments, as the company and its promoters own valuable assets,” Commissioner of Police K.V. Rajendranath Reddy told The Hindu on Tuesday. Mr. Reddy said four inspectors were on the job of probing the case from different dimensions. “One inspector is on the job of monitoring the registrations and the registered documents while the second one is taking care of the bank accounts and the transactions.
The third officer is focussing on the assets of the promoters and their relatives and friends, whereas the fourth inspector is monitoring the complaints from the depositors and the records pertaining to the deposits,” he explained.
On Tuesday too, complaints poured in at the Satyanarayanapuram police station. In all, the police received about 600 complaints for a total amount of Rs. 17.18 crore. A few depositors who came together as an association met Mr. Reddy and submitted a memorandum. The delegation, which was accompanied by corporators T.D.V. Nagalakshmi and Y. Srinivasa Rao, told the Commissioner that about 2,500 people deposited their hard-earned money in the Vuma group for a nominal rate of interest.
Most of the depositors came from poor and middleclass background and were eking out a livelihood from the interest earned on their investments.
They sought early completion of investigation with a thorough inquiry into the assets of the promoters of the company. They said that K. Uma Maheswarudu, the chief promoter of the company, assured them on March 19 that he would settle all the accounts in a couple of days but later disappeared.
Mr. Reddy assured the depositors not to worry about their investments, as the investigation was being done thoroughly from all angles.
