Durgapur: On the eve of Sharadotsav, more than a hundred women of Birsanpur area in Ward No. 40 of Durgapur Municipal Corporation have fallen victim to extreme financial uncertainty and fraud. Diminishing the joy of the festival, a local resident named Champa Bauri has been accused of vanishing with lakhs of rupees of their hard-earned savings. This incident has created intense tension and anger throughout the area.
According to information received from local sources, the accused Champa Bauri had been running a monthly fund or committee in the area for a long time. She used to encourage ordinary and middle-class women of the locality to save money in this fund by luring them with the promise of high interest. Believing her sweet words, more than a hundred women of the area used to deposit a portion of their earnings into that fund daily or monthly. They had pinned their hopes on getting that money back with interest during the puja or days of crisis.
However, problems began to arise recently when the time came to return the money. Champa Bauri started dilly-dallying in returning the money on various pretexts. Thereafter, when the women tried to contact her out of suspicion, they found her mobile phone switched off and she had disappeared from the area along with her family. As the matter came to light, a commotion started in the area. The cheated women initially went to Champa's husband's place and her paternal home to make inquiries, but no one could give any satisfactory answer there either. Even the accused's family members claimed that they knew nothing about this matter.
Right before the Pujas, these ordinary families are left in utter despair. Many have alleged that their year-long savings, some having money saved for their daughter's wedding or funds for shopping during the Pujas, had been invested in this fund. In this adverse situation, they finally chose the path of legal assistance. Last Saturday night, more than 100 cheated women gathered and appeared at the Durgapur Coke Oven Police Station. They lodged a written complaint of fraud against the accused Champa Bauri.
The victimized women present at the police station stated that they had saved this money bit by bit by working as daily wage earners or doing small jobs. Not getting that money back before the Puja has brought tears to their eyes. Their only plea to the police is that the accused Champa should be found quickly, their hard-earned savings recovered, and strict punishment be ensured for the guilty. The Coke Oven police station has started an investigation into the incident. According to police sources, the complaint is being scrutinized and searches are underway to find the accused.
