: Fifty-year-old Venkata Subbamma was selling tea in Ongole before she turned an agent for scam-tainted AgriGold firm.
Now the hapless woman, who had mobilised deposits to the tune of Rs. 70 lakh from 45 persons for the firm, was now literally in tears. “I am under intense pressure from my friends and relatives who had put their hard-earned money in the firm, for return of the amount,” says the woman highlighting the woes of the families of 100 agents who have committed suicide till date across the country.
The case of 35-year-old housewife Usha Rani, who had collected deposits to the tune of Rs. 10 lakh from 40 friends and relatives, was no different. An ex-serviceman S. Somaiah who had invested Rs. 1.50 lakh through an agent G. Papi Reddy in Cumbum, was forced to stop her daughter’s marriage in the last minute as the cheque issued by the firm at the time of closure of deposit bounced, complained a tailor-turned-agent T. Balakrishna.
Agent’s father
in jitters
Sixty-year-old farm worker G. Chennakeshavalu, whose son was absconding following pressure for return of deposits worth Rs. 10 lakh collected from 40 people, lamented: “Even if I sell all my assets I will not be able to pay back the depositors.” These were some of the tales of woe narrated by the agents and depositors who staged a massive protest here on Monday demanding the immediate arrest of all directors of the firm and attachment of all assets under benami names.
Braving the scorching sun, the victims under the leadership of All India AgriGold Baadhitula Porata Sangham convenor V. Moses formed a human chain urging the State government to hand over the ongoing CID probe to the Central Bureau of investigation.
“The CBI alone will be the competent authority to deal with the case effectively as the firm’s financial operations were spread over as many as eight States,” said Sangham executive member A. Koteswara Rao.
The firm had collected deposits from about 32 lakh people through eight lakh agents in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The firm had to repay over Rs. 7,000 crore to its depositors, explained CPI district secretary K. Aruna who expressed solidarity with the agitators.
The overwhelming view is that CBI probe alone will bring out the truth
