Mangalore, May 17, 2013;
Pandeshwar police have arrested Padmanabha Rai the President of Entrepreneurs Mutli-Purpose Co-operative society, following complaints by the depositors that they have been cheated by the society which failed to return their deposits.
It is said that most of the depositors were fish and vegetable vendors and daily wage labourers who deposited the money with the bank through the pigmy collectors on behalf of the bank.
Chaos broke out when the depositors along with the one of the pigmy collectors Shambavi began assembling at the office of the society and were later joined by CPIM and DYFI leaders.
The society used to collect the money from the depositors with the help of four to five pigmy collectors and each one of them believed to have more than 150 depositors under them.
The depositors realized that something was amiss when they wanted to withdraw the money a few months back for children’s education. But the society failed to return the money on some pretext or the other. Though a written assurance was given that the money would be returned by April 15, the society failed to honour the commitment.
The agitated depositors stormed the office of the society at State Bank and staged a protest. Pandeshwar police took the President of the society into custody. They also sealed the office of the bank and registered a case in Pandeshwar police station.
