Mysuru: Good news to Chanakya Finance investors who had deposited money, as the Mysuru District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has succeeded in ensuring that the aggrieved investors get back their deposits.

Chanakya Finance company, which had set up office on Benki Nawab Street in Mandi Mohalla, had allegedly cheated investors after collecting fixed deposits ranging from Rs.10,000 to Rs.10 lakh, amounting to Rs.7 crore, with a promise of higher interest, following which more than 500 complaints were filed against the Finance company in 2010.

Acting on the complaints, the Forum began the process to  recovery of money by confiscating the assets (both movable and immovable) of Chankaya Finance company and auctioning them. Subsequently, Rs.4.40 crore got from auction, has been returned to the investors, while the process of returning the remaining Rs.1.38 crore to investors in underway.

Initiating the auction process, the Forum put up the Kalyana Mantapa at Vishweshwaranagar that was owned by the company for auction on Sep.18 ,2024. But as the bidders did not participate, the Forum put it up for auction again on Sept. 25 with a base price of Rs. 5.10 crore, following which the Kalyana Mantapa was auctioned for Rs. 5,78,16,000.

Out of the revenue earned, the Forum began issuing cheques to 325 of the more than 500 investors, returning the fixed deposit amount, sans any Interest. The cheque issuance process will continue in January too, when almost all the remaining investors will get back their deposits, sans any Interest.

Though the Forum had taken up the case 12 years ago, the  recovery process went on at a snail’s pace, which left the depositors disappointed. However, Forum Chairperson A.K. Naveen Kumari, who is also a retired District Court Judge, after taking charge of the post, hastened the recovery  process and succeeded in ensuring that the aggrieved investors get back their deposits.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Naveen Kumari said that the Forum has been functioning in a more effective manner for the past two years.

Maintaining that the Forum has brought down the number of cases from 860 to 384, she said that cases which remained pending for over 10 years too has been resolved now along with new cases.

Noting that about 50 consumer disputes cases are being registered in the District Forum on an average every month, she said that steps are being taken to reduce the cases, she added.