On Thursday morning, many CID teams began raids at Margadarsi Chit Fund Pvt Ltd branches in various Andhra Pradesh districts. According to sources, CID agents conduct searches at chit-fund locations across seven districts.
CID officials are searching at the Margadarsi branches in Guntur, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Eluru, Narasaraopeta, and Anantapur the depositors’ records, papers, and electronic records.
Margadarsi Chit Fund Pvt Ltd was implicated in various irregularities, including the transfer of depositors’ money into mutual funds, the officials discovered all throughout their inquiry. Margadarsi Chit Fund Pvt Ltd is the target of various cases that the CID team has filed and is currently looking into.
Last December, when the chit fund company’s Hyderabad corporate office was seized, the investigators discovered that branch office collections were being sent to the corporate office for mutual fund investments. Ramoji Rao, a media mogul and the head of the chit fund, and Sailaja Cherukuri, a corporate director, have been identified as the case’s first and second accusers, respectively.
The Stamps and Registration Department, which has the authority to regulate chit-fund companies, began looking for Margadarsi branches and other similar enterprises in October and November 2022. The CID also conducted a three-day search on the chit fund company’s corporate headquarters in Hyderabad in December, discovering that branch office collections were being channeled there for later investment into mutual funds that are subject to risks in the capital markets.
“In view of the findings which are grave in nature, including the diverting of the subscribers’ money to mutual funds/speculative markets for their personal gains… the CID had immediately registered the cases and in pursuance of the FIRs, they commenced the investigation of the case,” an insider source stated.