A Bengaluru courtroom has directed a Kerala couple, accused of dishonest over 500 buyers in a coupon agency they operated in east Bengaluru for over 25 years, to seem earlier than the Prison Investigation Division on or earlier than September 4.
The couple — Tomy A Varghese, 57, and his spouse Shini Tomy, 52 — who’re accused of fleeing to Africa after dishonest buyers by means of the A&A Chit Funds and Finance agency, have been granted anticipatory bail with sureties of Rs 10 lakh every on August 21.
“Initially, they shall seem earlier than the investigation officer on or earlier than 4.9.2025 and co-operate with additional investigation within the case,” the Bengaluru Principal District and Classes Courtroom has said.
The anticipatory bail was granted after the couple knowledgeable the courtroom that that they had not fled the nation however had travelled to Nigeria for a household occasion and returned to India after two weeks. The courtroom was additionally instructed that the case includes documentary proof, and the influencing of witnesses wouldn’t be a cause for denial of bail.
“Additional, the supplies on report give an impression that alleged investments with A & A Chit Funds and non-refund of the quantity to the buyers will be proved based mostly on documentary proof. Added to the above, the Petitioner No.2 is a girl and Petitioner No.1 is claimed to be aged 57 years,” the district courtroom noticed.
“Thus, making an allowance for the totality of the allegations made in opposition to the petitioners and the supplies positioned on report to prima facie assist these allegations, this courtroom opines that the petitioners have made out legitimate grounds to increase them the advantage of anticipatory bail as prayed within the petition and topic to circumstances,” the district courtroom mentioned on August 21.
The couple has been accused of amassing about ₹63 crore from 523 people as chit subscriptions and deposits and committing fraud by not returning the funds.
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The alleged rip-off got here to gentle when a dishonest grievance was filed in opposition to the couple by a senior citizen, P T Savio, 63, a Ramamurthy Nagar resident, who allegedly misplaced Rs 70 lakh within the rip-off. Dozens of buyers approached the Ramamurthy Nagar police station in east Bengaluru with complaints of being defrauded by A&A Chit Funds, operated by the Tomy couple.
“They’ve collected Rs 70 lakh from me and my household and several other crores from others. Once we visited the workplace of the corporate, we discovered it closed and the couple was lacking. Their telephones have been additionally switched off,” Savio said in his grievance, based mostly on which the Ramamurthy Nagar police registered a case on July 5.
The police had registered a case beneath Part 4 of the Chit Funds Act 1982, Part 21 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019 (U/s-21); and sections 318 and 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for dishonest and felony breach of belief.
The Karnataka Authorities later transferred the case to the CID. The police issued lookout circulars for the couple after studying that that they had left the nation.
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Preliminary investigations discovered that 368 buyers in A&A Chit Funds had been cheated of a complete of ₹39.66 crore.
The couple was accused of fleeing to Africa on July 3, two days earlier than the First Info Report (FIR) was registered in opposition to them. They offered all their property for half the value earlier than escaping, police mentioned after the case was filed.