Investors claim fraud is worth ₹22,000 crore

FARIDABAD: Members of the ‘SRS Peedit Manch’, a Whatsapp group created by investors to fight the SRS group of companies — one of Faridabad’s top business houses — held a press conference with Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar on Tuesday.

Janak Raj Gupta, one of the founders of the ‘SRS Peedit Manch’, said that the group was initially created when the inves- tors received no help from the police and government.

Gupta said the formation of this group brought all complainants together, who filed a police case, ultimately leading to the arrest of Anil Jindal, chairman and managing director of the SRS group of companies.

“We are happy that police has finally heard our plea,” said Gupta.

“The number of complaints started increasing with time. We started digging into the company’s accounts and found they had created many bogus companies,” said another group member Satish Mittal, a chartered accountant, who had invested with the SRS group.

They alleged that Jindal’s company has taken loans of nearly ₹7,000 crore from 24 banks.

“Apart from loan of ₹7,000 crore, the SRS Group has taken around ₹15,000 crore hardearned public money on the pretext of providing flats or returning the money with interest,” Mittal said.

Mittal said that the fraud is worth ₹22,000 crore. “Members started tracing the other complainants to unearth other wrongdoings of the group,” Mittal added.

Tanwar had assured that the Congress will take up SRS scam in Lok Sabha and assembly.

JINDAL WAS ONCE A MILKMAN

The man arrested for duping investors to the tune of hundreds of crores had started as a milkman. Originally from Firozpur Kalan district in Faridabad, bordering the national capital, villagers remember Jindal, the son of a milkman, who rode on a cycle and sold milk.

One of his colleagues, who has known him since his early days, said Jindal took up teaching and, later, started collecting money from residents promising them good returns.

A doctorate in banking management, Jindal shot into limelight when he built SRS Mall in Sector 12 during 2003-04.

Apart from loan of ₹7,000 crore, the SRS Group has taken ₹15,000 crore public money on the pretext of providing flats or returning the money with interest. SATISH MITTAL, an investor