Madikeri: Two employees of a private chit fund company have been arrested for allegedly cheating the company and customers to the tune of more than Rs. 35 lakh.

The arrested employees are 42-year-old K.T. Vinod, a resident of Manandawadi in Kerala, who was working as the Branch Manager and 28-year-old Jayaprasad, a resident of Periyapatna in Mysuru district, who was working as the Assistant Manager.

The private chit fund company had opened its branch office at Virajpet in 2019 and many people had invested in the chit fund. Due to financial problems faced by investors  during lockdown, many had requested Branch Manager Vinod to return their investments. But Vinod is said to have given reasons and kept on postponing the refund dates.

Fed up with Vinod giving reasons, the investors approached the Mysuru Branch (Zonal Branch), met Assistant General Manager Pavithran and lodged a complaint against Vinod following which the Mysuru Branch Officer sought information from Vinod to which there was no response.

But following pressure from the investors, Pavithran visited the chit fund company’s Virajpet branch and on verifying the computer records and other documents, he (Pavithran) came to know that more than Rs. 35 lakh has been cheated. As it was not only the investors but also the company that was cheated, Pavithran lodged a complaint against Vinod and Jayaprasad at Virajpet Town Police Station on Oct. 24.

Following the complaint, Vinod and Jayaprasad had gone absconding and Virajpet Police, who had launched a hunt to nab the two, arrested Jayaprasad on Oct. 30 at Periyapatna and based on the information provided by him (Jayaprasad), the Police arrested Vinod at Virajpet.

Police said that all the staff of the chit fund company are being questioned and added that more information is being obtained. The Police have seized the computer and other documents from the accused. Cases under IPC Section 408, 465 and 471 have been registered against accused Vinod and Jayaprasad, who were produced before a Court, which remanded them to judicial custody.