Dharapuram Jewellery shop owner unable to payback gold chit subscribers attempts suicide with family

Jewellery shop owner who swindled crores in gold chit attempts suicide with family in Dharapuram lodge


Coimbatore: Jewellery shop owner who is alleged to have swindled crores in gold chit attempted suicide with family in Dharapuram lodge. There is a jewelery shop by the name of Venkatraman Chettiar on Chinnakadai Road, Pollachi Road, Dharapuram, Tirupur District. The owner is Hariharan (35) and his father Balaraman (60) who is in charge of the Tirupur District Congress Party. His lives with his wife Pushpa, Hariharan's wife Divya (30) and a 5-year-old daughter Aswathy. The Hariharan family opened a jewelery shop on Pollachi Road, Dharapuram two years ago. The shop was running a scheme from Dharapuram and surrounding area under the monthly Gold Jewelery Small Savings Scheme and actresses were brought in to give attractive gifts such as cars, two-wheelers and gold jewelery in lucky draw every year. As a result, a large number of people around Dharapuram joined the scheme and paid monthly installments of Rs.500 to Rs.5,000.

Apart from this, political figures and businessmen in Dharapuram are said to have invested crores of rupees in this jewelery shop. While the money was coming, Hariharan was struggling to repay the money. On 13th, the jewelry store was suddenly closed and a notice board was put up announcing a two-day holiday. As a result, the consumers of the gold chit scheme indulged in road roko on Pollachi Road. At this time Hariharan absconded with his family and has allegedly attempted suicide with his family.

On the 18th he came to Trichy from Dharapuram and stayed with his wife Divya, daughter Aswathy, father Balaraman and his wife Pushpa at a private hotel in Thuraiyur near Mannachanallur. They went to the temple in Trichy and performed offered their prayers and stayed at the hotel for the night. The family, including Hariharan, was lying asleep in the living room when staff visited yesterday morning. A bottle of acid for polishing jewelry nearby was left open.

As there was no response to the calls, the hotel manager informed the police about this. The police came and rescued them and admitted them to a private hospital in Trichy and intensive care is being provided there. Police have registered a case and are investigating. A prominent political figure seems to have invested crores of rupees in Hariharan's jewellery shop. It is said that Hariharan was forced to give all the daily earning to the political figure as interest and the jewellery in the shop was taken for the principle amount. This has led to a fix for Hariharan as he couldn't pay for the gold chit consumers. Hariharan is said to have attempted suicide with his family due to loss of business due to this.

During his heyday Hariharan had invited many people, including film actress Oviya, to impress people by giving them lucky draw gifts. He lost his business and money due to his mismanagement say relatives and peers. Hariharan, who was deep in debt of several crores had no choice and absconded after people continued to besiege the shop and stage protests. The sudden suicide attempt in Trichy yesterday has caused panic and fear among all those who invested money in Dharapuram, Coimbatore.

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