Kerala couple flee after cheating over Rs 50 Cr through chit fund schemes in Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Jul 9 (PTI): A couple hailing from Kerala, running a chit fund company in Bengaluru, fled after allegedly cheating more than 1,300 investors of over Rs 50 crore here, police said on Wednesday.
A majority of the people who have invested in their schemes are Keralites, they said.
The matter came to light after one of the investors, PT Savio, who claimed to have lost Rs 70 lakh in the scheme, approached the officials at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station on July 5, police said.
Based on the complaint, a case under Chit Funds Act, relevant section of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019, and sections 318 (cheating), 316 (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered against Tomy A and his wife Shini Tomy, proprietors of A&A Chit Funds and Finance in the Ramamurthy Nagar area in Bengaluru, police said.
Following his complaint, several investors came forward with complaints after they found that the firm's office was locked and the couple unreachable.
According to police, so far, they have received 265 formal complaints against the couple, who have settled in Bengaluru for a long time.
Citing a preliminary investigation, a senior police officer said that the couple had allegedly sold their apartment, switched off their phones, and disappeared. The couple reportedly started the business around 2005, had been collecting money through various deposit and chit schemes, promising high returns.
The operation continued for nearly two decades before collapsing recently, he said.
A manhunt has been launched to trace the accused, police said, adding that the true scale of the fraud could be much larger.
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Pune airport runway restored after IAF aircraft snag; ops resume
Pune (PTI): The runway at Pune airport, which was temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, has now been restored and declared operational, the Air Force said on Saturday.
The authorities at the Pune International Airport had earlier said that around 10.25 pm on Friday, a fighter aircraft experienced an undercarriage failure during landing, causing the runway to be blocked.
As many as 91 flights of airlines, including IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, Akasa, and Air India Express, were affected due to the incident, they said.
Earlier on Friday night, the Air Force had stated that the runway at Pune airport was temporarily unavailable following an incident involving one of its fighter aircraft. The aircrew are safe, and there is no damage to civil property, it had said.
"The runway at Pune Airport, which was temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an Indian Air Force aircraft, has now been restored and declared operational. All necessary safety inspections and clearances have been completed. Operations are resuming in a phased manner," it said in a post on X.
Flight operations at Pune airport are being gradually restored. The situation has been brought under control with the highest priority given to the safety of citizens, a Defence PRO said.
