Hundreds of AgriGold agents and customers took to Vijayawada's Dharna Chowk on Thursday, questioning the delay of the Andhra government in getting them justice.
Accompanied by activists of Jana Sena Party, founded by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, the victims demanded that the state release Rs 5 lakh to the families of those who committed suicide after the AgriGold scam broke out.
“Even after the intervention of Jana Sena founder and actor Pawan Kalyan, there is no response. The government says that the process of auction will be initiated soon. But there is no response,” Jana Sena leader Pothina Venkata Mahesh told The Hindu.
This came a month after Pawan Kalyan met the victims of the Rs 6,000 crore scam in March, and took up their cause.
The Jana Sena president spoke at a meeting of victims belonging to various states in Vijayawada. He said as the company owned more assets than the money it owes to the depositors, the government should take the initiative to recover the money.
He said there was lack of transparency in the investigations and he couldn't understand the delay in ensuring justice to the victims, though the owners of the company have 20,000 acres of land and other properties.
Around 3.2 million people in many states including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, were duped in total.
AgriGold owes Rs 6,380 crore to over 32 lakh depositors in nine states. Andhra Pradesh alone has 19 lakh depositors, who had deposited Rs 4,000 crore with the company.
The scam came to light in 2014. Seven out of 18 accused have so far been arrested by Andhra Pradesh police.
The company lured several lakh customers on the promise that their investment would come back to them with higher returns.
It also sent out several 'agents' to convince people to invest in the group of companies.
The company allegedly took this money and invested heavily in real estate, before branching out to other areas as well, all the while promising their customers that the returns would only increase, before duping them.
The case is presently being investigated by the CID.