Cong chief in chit fund fraud case

Investors in a cooperative society chit fund have lodged a complaint against Meghalaya Congress president OL Nongtdu and two others for "cheating" them of their "hard-earned money".

On Friday, a group of irate investors filed an FIR against Literature Centre Cooperative Society Limited (LCCSL) at the Laban police station for duping them of over Rs 5 lakh. They named Nongtdu as the Society’s chairman and HM Haque and Altaf Haque as its secretary and collector respectively.

The depositors alleged LCCSL had been collecting money from them in the form of recurring and fixed deposit with an assured interest rate of 10.5 per cent per annum. "Sometime in October-November 2006, all members of the Society disappeared from Shillong, except Nongtdu who feigned ignorance on the matter when asked about the whereabouts of his colleagues," the FIR stated.

The FIR stated both the Haques had fled to their hometown Silchar in southern Assam. Their landlady in Laban locality, P Mawlong, had told them that the duo had vanished without paying a year’s rent.

Kynmawlang Lyngdoh, an aggrieved depositor of Jaiaw Langsning locality, said most depositors had faith in the Society as it was registered, and Nongtdu was its chairman. "We were getting our premium regularly until October 2006 when our deposit schemes matured. We discovered that the key Society members had disappeared and its office at Laban locked," Lyngdoh said.

The depositors them met East Khasi Hills police superintendent AR Mawthoh, who advised them to lodge a complaint so that necessary action could be taken. "We are looking into the complaint," the SP said.

Nongtdu, meanwhile, said that he had resigned as chairman of LCCSL late last year. "I am no longer associated with the Society, and I will say whatever I have to in the court," he told HT from Shillong.