The police team probing the Tharayil Finance case on Wednesday recorded the arrest of Saji Sam, owner of the Pathanamthitta-based non-banking finance company that allegedly cheated its depositors.
Officials said Sam had gone into hiding following the cheating cases lodged by his customers and surrendered before the Pathanamthitta police on Wednesday afternoon. The district police had registered as many as 53 cases against the firm under IPC Section 420 since last week.
As per these cases, the private finance company is alleged to have duped around ₹7.4 crore from its investors. During preliminary interrogation, the accused reportedly expressed his willingness to refund the deposits to the customers and sought time for the same.
According to sources, the company used to collect deposits from investors, especially the NRI community, by offering lucrative interest and it abruptly stopped paying interest on the deposits from February this year. Following this, customers approached the firm’s offices directly though to no avail and all its branch offices began closing down from May onward.
Tharayil Finance, which began operations in 1991, has three branches in Pathanamthitta and one in Kollam.
