Madurai: A former Rajasthan MLA convicted of murder and directors of a firm penalised by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are among those linked to an alleged ₹3.70-crore deposit fraud involving 1,428 investors in Tamil Nadu.
In an Oct 16 order, Madurai’s TNPID special court confirmed the attachment of about 93 acres owned by two Garima companies in Ramanathapuram district. Among the respondents is Banwari Lal Kushwah, a former BSP legislator from Rajasthan’s Dholpur constituency who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016 for the murder of Naresh Kushwaha. The case was registered in Feb 2016 following a complaint by a woman from Sivakasi, who accused the businesses of cheating, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy. The attached plots were purchased in 2014 and have a combined guideline value of ₹1.95 crore, significantly lower than the reported outstanding deposits. SEBI had separately identified unregistered collective investment schemes operated by Garima Homes and directed the firm and its directors to refund investors in May 2016. In 2020, SEBI imposed a combined penalty of ₹3 crore on Garima Real Estate & Allied Limited and six directors, including Kushwah. The company reported collecting ₹55.22 crore from more than one lakh investors, though SEBI said the claimed repayments could not be independently verified.
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