12.5 percent interest on one lakh rupees; FarmFed chairman and MD arrested in Rs 250 crore investment fraud

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: FarmFed chiefs arrested in a financial fraud case. Thiruvananthapuram Museum police have arrested Chairman Rajesh Chandrasekharan Pillai and Managing Director Akhin Francis. The arrests are in connection with a case of embezzling Rs 24.5 lakh from a Kowdiar native.

It is preliminarily believed that they have accepted more than Rs 250 crore as deposits from several people. More complaints are coming in. Police said that cases will be registered in these cases soon and action will be taken. The company's board members Dhanya, Shiny, Prince Francis and Mahavishnu have also been named as accused in the case.

The case is that Southern Green Farming And Marketing Multi-State Co-operative Society LTD (FARMFED) in Kozhikode embezzled money by promising 12.5 percent interest per month on one lakh rupees. The society cheated the investors by not paying the money and interest. Farmfed is a multi-state cooperative society registered under the Union Ministry of Cooperation for 16 years.

The police have received information that they have invested about Rs 49 crore in a plan to start a satellite channel, which they later started as an online media company. It is also known that they have received investments from many people who received money by giving away land on National Highway 66 in Thrissur and surrounding areas.

Advertisements were made using celebrities to promote the society's products. Farmfed has 16 branches in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. However, those who had invested for a long time had not received their profit share or money back. Emilda, a native of Kowdiar, approached the police after the amount deposited in the Sasthamangalam branch was not returned even after the expiry of the term.