RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, March 31: As Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said 10 crore of investors whose money was stuck in the four cooperative societies run by the Sahara group will get back their money with interest, around 9600 investors in Jharkhand heaved a sigh of relief.
Though, according to Shah, the process to return investments with interest will be initiated in three-four months, people have become optimistic taking return of their hard-earned money.
A finance department official who received 9649 complaints last year when the state government took its initiative for recovery of invested amounts confirmed the situation saying he has now started calculating the amount involved in the total number of complaints.
“Though the work of calculating the amount is not easy, it will be required as the central registrar of cooperative societies may seek the data any day,” the official said.
A former Sahara agent Pushparaj Rajak also expressed his pleasure. “It is a good news. Though the government received only 9649 complaints, I think the number of investors should be around 50,000 in Jharkhand and investment amount should be in the tune of crores,” he said.
“I remember having collected not less than Rs 15 lakh from 40 to 50 investors when Sahara was working and in many branches the amount of collection used to reach up to Rs 5 crore in a month,” Rajak said.
Making the announcement at an event organised by the Uttarakhand cooperative department at Rishikul ground, Shah said the Supreme Court has issued orders to return the money of investors who had invested in Sahara group cooperative societies. The Ministry of Cooperation had been pursuing the matter consistently, Shah added.
A Sahara employee facing pecuniary problems due to the poor condition of his organization also appeared happy. “It is a good development. Though anything could be said only when a roadmap is sent taking the way the amount to be returned, it appears that good days are also coming for us.”
Before Shah made the announcement, three FIRs were already registered against Sahara India in the Jharkhand capital on October 15 last year.
Organised under the aegis of Jan Andolan Sangharsh Nyay Morcha Sahara investors and Sahara agents under the leadership of senior leader of the State Congress Committee, Alok Kumar Dubey, had registered two FIRs on October 17, 2022 against Sahara India for duping more Rs 1.5 crore from poor and middle-class families of Jharkhand in the name of profitable investment.
One FIR was registered at the Kotwali police station while another FIR was registered at Sadar police station. Earlier on October 15 last year, one FIR was registered at the Doranda police station for the same reason.
The FIR suggests that money was invested in four cooperative societies and companies of Sahara India in Ranchi, which include Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Sahara India Credit Co-operative Society Ltd., Sahara Multi-Purpose Society Ltd and Sahara Q Shop Company.
The FIR alleges that even after reaching Rs 23 crore as maturity amount payment is not being made for many years. Those named in the FIR included Ganesh Sahu, regional manager Dinesh Kumar, Ranjan Kumar Singh and Satish Chandra Singh besides others.
With Shah’s announcement investors are happy. “I hope the union home minister must fulfil his promise and investors who have invested hard earned money to get back their return,” Dubey said.
