AgriGold, founded in 1995 in Andhra Pradesh, operated as a collective investment scheme, enticing over 32 lakh investors with promises of high returns through real estate and agriculture investments.
Published Mar 09, 2025 | 1:24 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 09, 2025 | 1:24 PM
ED released ₹3,300 Crore for AgriGold victims
Synopsis: A Special Court (PMLA) approving the release of ED-attached assets worth over ₹3,300 crore, marks a crucial step toward compensating the defrauded investors.
The AgriGold Collective Investment Scheme scam, one of India’s largest financial frauds, has finally seen significant development after years of legal battles and victim struggles.
On 21 February 2025, the Special Court (PMLA) in Hyderabad approved the release of assets worth over ₹3,300 crore, attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), marking a crucial step toward compensating the defrauded investors.
The scam, which surfaced in 2014, saw AgriGold defrauding over 32 lakh investors across multiple states, promising high returns through real estate and agricultural investments.
Many victims lost their life savings, leading to financial ruin and even suicide. While protests and legal battles have persisted for a decade, delays, political promises, and bureaucratic hurdles have slowed restitution.
Now, as the ED moves forward with asset distribution, victims await long-overdue justice, though challenges remain in ensuring swift and transparent compensation.
ED, Hyderabad has accomplished the process of restitution of attached properties worth Rs. 3339 Crore, approx. (value of properties at the time of attachment) to the victims of Ponzi schemes launched by Agri Gold group of companies. The present market value of the…
— ED (@dir_ed) February 24, 2025
AgriGold, founded in 1995 in Andhra Pradesh, operated as a collective investment scheme, enticing over 32 lakh investors with promises of high returns through real estate and agriculture investments.
The company expanded its reach across multiple states, including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, amassing significant assets over two decades.
In 2014, the scheme unraveled when investors reported bounced cheques and unpaid interest. Investigations revealed that AgriGold had been functioning without proper authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The company’s chairman, A Venkata Rama Rao, and managing director, A Venkata Seshu Narayana Rao, were arrested in February 2016 on charges of defrauding investors.
The scam, amounting to approximately ₹7,000 crore, led to widespread protests, and over 70 investors reportedly died by suicide due to financial losses.
In December 2024, the ED filed a restitution application under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), seeking to return the attached properties to the victims.
On 21 February, the Special Court (PMLA) in Hyderabad approved the release of assets valued at ₹3,339 crore at the time of attachment, with a current market value exceeding ₹6,000 crore.
These assets include over 2,300 parcels of land and an amusement park named ‘Haailand’ in Guntur. This restitution marks a significant step toward compensating the victims of the AgriGold scam.
“In 2015, I was going around Andhra Pradesh organising protests for the special status category for the state. On one such visit, I came across about 40 people discussing their peril in Ongole’s Ambedkar Bhavan. That’s how I got involved with the justice movement,” Muppala Nageshwar Rao recalled. He is the honorary president of the AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association, founded in 2015.
“We have no set registrations, we consider all the victims and their families a part of our organisation. We have about 18.52 lakh victims in Andhra Pradesh and about 38 lakh countrywide, ” he explained. “We aim to be a support system for the victims and their families in tough conditions,” he added.
He recounted that the first challenge around 2015 was getting the government to take the issue seriously. “We began a statewide protest, spending about 33 weeks on buses spreading awareness and gathering solidarity. We began at Ichapuram,” he told South First.
“Despite that, the government was initially hesitant to take up our cause. It was only in 2017, after numerous demonstrations, that we were able to talk directly to the chief minister,” he said.
After this meeting, the Government of Andhra Pradesh declared solidarity with the victims. It opened 700 counters at public offices across 13 districts in the state to digitise grievances and complaints.
“After this happened, we finally saw some progress. We became hopeful. Chandrababu Naidu announced an ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh for the families of those who had died by suicide. Things seemed to look up for us. Even in March, they announced that they would return the money in four months, arrest the perpetrators, seize the property, disburse ex-gratia, and bring in legislation to prevent such cases in the future,” Nageshwar recounted. He noted that this marked the beginning of many unfulfilled promises.
“By end-December 2018, we had new policies, the investigation was proceeding, but the victims were yet to get the money,” Nageshwar recounted.
“Hence, we went on an indefinite hunger strike. Unsurprisingly, it was met with police suppression. Later, some representatives of the TDP showed up and tried to assure us yet again that justice will come, and soon,” he continued.
However, 2019 marked the election year. With the election year came a flurry of promises. “Jagan promised us that he would release ₹1,182 crore to 14 lakh victims with deposits under ₹20,000. Additionally, he promised an increased ex gratia of ₹10 lakh, doubling the earlier assurance,” he reported.
Despite the fresh promise, the newly elected government followed the pattern of the earlier dispensation, setting a deadline Jagan couldn’t achieve.
“In 2019, he released ₹230 crore for victims with deposits under ₹10,000. Then came COVID-19 in 2020. In 2021, we had to go on strike again. This time, however, Jagan met the August deadline he had set. He released an additional ₹650 crore for victims with deposits under ₹20,000, covering about 3.6 lakh people,” he explained.
“The emergence of the ED in the case interrupted the CID’s ongoing investigation. “Needless to say, the clash of jurisdictions led to delays in the proceedings,” Nageshwar explained.
“Now, just because the ED announced that it’d restitute ₹3,300, it doesn’t mean we’ll get it soon. Given the bureaucratic red tape and the conditions of the courts, it will take much longer,” he speculated.
He added that the victims proposed a fast-track court for their purpose but to no response.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
