Kerala couple accused of Rs 50 crore chit fund scam in Bengaluru and Mangaluru

A couple from Kerala, who ran a chit fund and finance firm primarily targeting fellow Keralites in Bengaluru and Mangaluru, have been accused of defrauding investors of over ₹50 crore.

The alleged scam came to light after multiple depositors discovered that the firm’s office in Bengaluru’s Ramamurthy Nagar had been shut down and the couple unreachable.

The accused, A V Tomy and Shini Tomy, are said to have been operating the business under the name A&A Chit Funds since 2005, promising lucrative returns to attract a wide base of investors. Over the past two days, several aggrieved individuals have filed complaints at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station, reporting similar experiences of financial fraud.

One of the primary complainants, 64-year-old P T Savio, claimed that he and his family had invested ₹70 lakh in the chit fund scheme. In his complaint registered on July 5, Savio said, “They have collected Rs 70 lakh from me and my family and several crores from others. When we visited the office of the company, we found it closed and the couple were missing. Their phones were also switched off.”

According to the complaint, the money was collected through both the firm’s accounts and the couple’s personal bank accounts, raising further suspicion about the misuse of funds.

Police have filed a case under Section 4 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982, Section 21 of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019, and Sections 318 and 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deal with cheating and criminal breach of trust.

Investigations are currently underway, and authorities are attempting to trace the whereabouts of the couple. The case has sparked alarm among investors, many of whom are from Kerala and had trusted the couple due to community ties.