Gowri Shankar, a security guard at the CRB House in Delhi, today feels cheated by the company which he had himself guarded once. Soon after his contract expired in January, he parked Rs 10,000 with CRB Capital Markets, lured by gifts like towels, a tea-set, Rs 850 as upfront cash incentive and a high annual return of 16.50 per cent. At present out of job, he seems desperate to get back his principal amount and even offers to return his gifts and incentive. According to Gowri Shankar, the company downed its shutters in Delhi on Friday (May 9) on the pretext that ``some close relative of the promoter had expired.'' In fact, he even showed us the black cloth tied to the shutter as a mark of respect to the `departed' soul. To his utter dismay, the office never re-opened.Peon Baliram also put in his hard-earned money lured by the incentives and assurance of safety from his colleagues and officers at CRB's Delhi office. He is not the sole employee of the company who has suffered as other employees and officials of the company's Delhi office have reportedly invested huge sums running into lakhs of rupees.R K Aggarwal, who had invested Rs 15,000 in the company's FD scheme, has filed an FIR with the Paharganj police station in New Delhi.

More FIRs are expected to follow as more and more investors get wind of the situation. Retired personnel, salaried middle class, unemployed youth and women of marriageable age have all been left desolate by CRB Capital's decision to down shutters after it failed to honour its commitments. The common thread in all these cases is the way they fell headlong into the trap. For them, CRB could never fail as it was prompt in sending interest warrants and cheques of the principal amount a month before the maturity date. Impressed by the service investors renewed their deposits. The classic case is of H K Sharma, a CPWD official, who renewed his fixed deposits after being impressed by CRB Capital's promptness in despatching the principal amount of Rs 16,000. In March this year, he invested Rs 75,000 (split into FDs of Rs 15,000 each) and received Rs 5,250 (7 per cent) as cash incentive.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.