Four days ahead of polling, the AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association, which waged a war against the company management and government, on Sunday split into two groups due to political intervention.
The association members organised rallies, relay fasts, dharnas, highway blocking, laid siege to collectorates and indefinite fast demanding repayment of the deposits in the last four years.
The AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association, under the aegis of honorary president Muppalla Nageswara Rao, president B. Viswanadha Reddy, general secretary V. Tirupati Rao and deputy general secretary B.V. Chandrashekara Rao organised the four-year protests.
Mr. Viswanadha Reddy formed a JAC Committee and met the YSRCP leaders at Lotus Pond in Hyderabad a couple of days ago and extended support to the party.
Opposing the decision, the association members held a meeting and removed him from his position.
“The association has appointed executive chairman E.V. Naidu as new president and will fight for justice. The association is not supporting any candidate and not asking to vote for any party, which is against the rights of a citizen,” said Mr. Chandrashekar.
The group, which began some 27 years ago, has spread to eight States and floated about 100 firms — AgriGold Farms and Real Estates, AgriGold Entertainments, AgriGold Dairy — and others and collected huge amounts from the depositors.
Massive scam
The AgriGold was the biggest scam being investigated by the CID which affected about 20 lakh families.
About 150 depositors died due to the multi-crore scam in Andhra Pradesh and the government had paid ₹7 crore to the customers and agents. Recently, ₹250 crore was released to the customers.
Of the 29 cases registered against the management, 15 were booked in the State, nine in Karnataka, three in Telangana, and one case each in Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
More than 32 lakh depositors invested about ₹6,380 crore in the firms, of whom 19.81 lakh deposited ₹3,944 crore in Andhra Pradesh. Properties of the company, worth about ₹3,861 crore were attached to the government.
Cases transferred
The government has transferred the cases booked in West Godavari, Krishna, Nellore, Guntur, Prakasam and other districts to the CID, which arrested its chairman, vice-chairman, directors and others.
