ED reaches out to people cheated by Chennai financier

The Central government agency had conducted raids at the premises of Kochar and his business establishments on September 29 and 30 and is still continuing with the process of tallying the money and property obtained by his family from gullible people in Chennai.

The agency, in a statement, said that it had conducted raids at six places and made seizures of about Rs 250 crore, including Rs 1.5 crore in cash, gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 11 crore, and around 150 documents of landed properties.

A total of 40 people have already filed complaints and the ED is expecting more and has called upon other victims to reach out to it.

According to the agency, Kochar and his family members including his three sons, Inderchand, Suresh and Ramesh had conspired and cheated people by offering loans in cash by taking property documents as collateral, along with blank bank cheques.

The Kochar family took general power of attorney in their names and promissory notes, the ED said, adding that their seizure included third-party property documents.

The ED said that irrespective of whether someone had paid the money or not, the Kochars used to transfer the land in their names and the ED received complaints about this and conducted raids.

It also said that the Kochars were charging interest rates of 24 per cent to 48 per cent per annum which was in violation of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest (TNPCEI) Act.

ED officials said that the department is analysing the full volume of the money and documents seized from the Kochar family in a few days and is expecting more people to approach it.