Govinda Prasad Shrestha of Gaushala-2, Mahottari had collected around Rs 110 million from around 17,000 people opening head office of the company in Milan Chowk, Butwal and branch offices in Nepalgunj, Damouli, Narayngadh, Dang, Pokhara, Kathmandu and other places. [break]
He is believed to have returned around Rs 30 million to those who became members in the beginning as per the company´s policy but now has absconded with the rest of the money.
The company, registered at the Company Registrar´s Office on September 11, 2008 under sole ownership of Shrestha, had attracted 17,000 members at a fee of Rs 6,500 per head with the promise of payback of Rs 10,000 a year later on top of an accident insurance of up to Rs 200,000 at United Insurance Company.
The company had also promised a discount of Rs 50 while buying LPG cylinder every month and a maternity allowance of Rs 2,200 if the members were to deliver babies. These attractive offers had helped the company rope in housewives, traders and even lawyers, journalists, university lecturers and government employees.
“The company was legally registered and was even involved in social works in the beginning,” lawyer Surya Shrestha, who was lured by the company, said. The company conducted training workshops to make candles and incense sticks, Shrestha revealed, as part of its women empowerment initiatives and had also conducted blood donation camps. “I am surprised after the operator has suddenly gone out of contact. The true intent of the company has now been revealed,” Shrestha added.
“My husband had warned me against becoming a member. But I joined as everybody had become members,” Laxmi Poudel of Sukkhanagar, Butwal, who became member on insistence of her friends, said.
Shrestha is operating two hotels by the name of Sub-Nepal in Pokhara and Bardibas, Sindhuli with the money collected from the members. He started a travel agency in Bhaktapur with five buses and had also bought a car (Ko 1 Cha 4299) and a van (Ba 6 Cha 4520).
Members had lodged complaint at the District Administration Office, Rupandehi, after the government banned Unity Life Insurance Company in May following news reports by Republica. Rupandehi Police had arrested the company´s office head in Butwal, Radha Ghimire of Sukkhanagar, Butwal, after the complaint.
But Shrestha, who was in Kathmandu at the time, returned to Bhairahawa the next day and got Ghimire released following secret meetings with the then Superintendent of Police (SP) Chhabi Lal Banjade and Chief District Officer (CDO) Nagendra Jha.
“Shrestha would sparingly come into contact ever since but has not come into contact in the past few months putting us in an awkward position,” Ghimire told Republica over the phone.
The head office in Butwal has remained closed for the past one month after Ghimire went to Kathmandu to search for Shrestha. The head office has also not paid the house owner Rs 60,000 as rent of the past five months while the staffers have also not received their salaries.
Shrestha´s kid brother Suresh, sister Meena and wife Laxmi were active when he started the company in Butwal but they all have gone out of contact now. A team of members from Kathmandu that reached Janakpur on a tip-off that Shrestha was there, found him but he somehow managed to escape.
“The police didn´t pay attention to us and Shrestha mobilized 18 goons on motorcycles to encircle us. We, therefore, returned back to Kathmandu,” one of the youths in the team said. The victims have also filed complaints at the Metropolitan Police Range, Hanuman Dhoka.
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