Cops raid Apple Chit firm office

Vijayawada: Police and registration officials on Sunday raided the Apple Tree Chit Fund Company office here on Sunday. The firm had downed shutters a month ago after duping investors.Led by District registrar (West Krishna) G. Bala Krishna, sub-registrar Rama Devi and West Zone ACP T. Hari Krishna, the officials opened the locked office at Governorpeta and seized documents relating to the investments made by the firm.The chit company was started by a Congress leader in the Kottayam district of Kerala and had closed down after it failed to repay investors.The firm’s Vijayawada branch was started in April 2013, and managed to attract around 50 investors. The office here was also closed a month ago but agent Siva Nagaraju, and collection boys Prem Kumar and Murali assured customers that it would open soon, and had collected deposits.Governorpet inspector K. Mahendra said that the three were taken into custody and were being questioned. As many as 15 investors lodged complaints with police till Sunday. Police said that there was still no clarity about the money collected by the firm in the city, but estimate that it might be over Rs 50 lakh. The firm had also not paid the rent to the owner of the premises since the last two months.