A case was charged against a Thrissur couple for duping Rs 86 lakhs from the locals in the name of organic farming.

As per the complaint filed by nine families of Kaipamangalam in Thrissur, the couple - Adarsh, a vegetable seller and Reena, a teacher, collected money from them after promising to buy land for vegetable cultivation and organic farming.

The complainants allege that the couple promised to form a cooperative society so that they could gain more profit through farming.

Many of the women in the families invested in the ‘fake’ venture by giving their gold.

Now the families have alleged that in total, they lost Rs 86 lakhs. 

An officer at Mathilakam police station told The News Minute that the couple collected money from their neighbourhood in the last one and half years.

“The couple also gave back the investors some money claiming that it was the profit they received. They also convinced them that they had bought some land outside Thrissur for cultivation,” said the officer.

Since the couple gave back some amount of money, the investors also believed them and did not keep any records of the money they invested.

The couple promised that they would return the amount invested by the families on March 10 and they also claimed that after March 10, the investors will start getting profits.

But since March 10, both of them were absconding and the families who got duped filed a complaint with the Mathilakam Police as well as Thrissur rural SP.

While speaking to media, some of the people who got duped said that they knew the couple’s family very well, and since they were permanent residents of the locality, they did not think twice before investing the money.