TIRUCHY: Irate Karur residents staged a protest against a private finance firm that cheated them of their gold deposits. The firm was alleged to have deceived them after collecting over 1,000 sovereigns of gold.

The protesters sought action on the firm claiming that they had been cheated.

It is said, the Kerala-based private gold loan firm has been functioning at Pallapatti in Karur for more than 15 years and the people in and around Pallapatti, Aravakirchi, Manmari, and Velambadi were their regular customers.

Against such a backdrop, in 2022, the financial firm had sought deposits through their share schemes through which they promised Rs 2,000 per share for each sovereign of gold, and the firm’s employees were making door-to-door canvassing. The firm through their promotion had reportedly collected around 1,050 sovereign gold jewels from around 120 customers.

Meanwhile, the firm increased the incentive from Rs 2,000 to 2,500 in 2023. The firm distributed incentives for two to three months but later suddenly stopped the release of funds to its customers. Doubting, the customers went to the office and inquired about no release of funds, but were not given a prompt response.

Subsequently, they demanded to give back the jewels that were deposited. Once again they were not given a proper reply. So a section of customers went to the financial firm’s headquarters in Kerala where they were directed to approach the Karur branch to get their jewels.

On Wednesday, the irate depositors staged a protest in front of the Karur branch demanding to give back their jewels. On information, the police rushed to the spot and conducted talks with them.

The police also assured the depositors to hold talks with the firm authorities and so they withdrew the protest.