Mild tension prevailed in the Old Town area near the Police Station area and Chilakapeta after a Ponzi scheme company reportedly downed shutters on Saturday and the owners had gone missing.
As per the police, the company was running for over 10 to 12 years and had a large customer base.
The company reportedly used to ask each member to deposit ₹500 per month, which amounts to about ₹6,000 per year, and it would supply about 31 essential commodities such as rice, sugar and oil at a subsidised rate to the members.
This month on December 3, the members had come to the company premises with their membership cards to draw the ration, but were told to come back on December 10, as sufficient stock was not available.
“We had come on Saturday, as told by the management, but found that the doors were locked. We waited for a couple of hours and then got worried and staged a dharna, demanding action against the company owners,” said a member of the firm.
As per the police, the complainants were yet to file any official complaints. “Based on the complaints we will take up the investigation,” said an officer.
Though the members claimed that the firm had collected huge sums of money tuning up to crores of rupees, the police said that it was too early to say that the firm had duped the members and unless the exact number of members are known, the quantification of the amount cannot be done.
