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The Supreme Court has sought a response from the Governments of India and the State of Tamil Nadu in a plea by depositors from T.N. for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into an alleged Ponzi scheme run by the Universal Trading Solutions Private Limited, a Coimbatore-based company.
Appearing before a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, a group of depositors said there were around 73,000 of them who had lost their life-savings aggregating to about ₹1,000 crore.
The petitioner-depositors, represented by advocates Mukund P. Unny and Sanjay Nair S., said three committees headed by retired High Court judges had been formed in the past. Two of them were dissolved by the Madras High Court. The third panel, chaired by former Madras High Court judge Justice M. Govindaraj, has not been able to auction any asset or return the amount due to the beleaguered depositors for the past nearly three years.
The depositors argued the Kerala High Court had transferred the cases registered in that State to the CBI. Subsequently, the State of Kerala had granted consent to a CBI investigation under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. Whereas, on the other hand, Tamil Nadu had remained content with having the State Police probe the cases registered within its jurisdiction.
The petition said the case was investigated by the State Police’s Economic Offences Wing. It submitted that Universal Trading Solution Pvt. Ltd. and its managing director G. Ramesh were facing investigation under the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act of 2019, and the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors Act, 1997.
Mr. Unny argued that the Central agency should be assigned the task of investigation into an alleged scam which has multi-State ramifications. The investigation should be uniform and centralised, rather than being scattered, he said.
“The continuation of a parallel State-level investigation in Tamil Nadu would lead to fragmented, inconsistent and ineffective prosecution… There has been a denial of the right to a fair investigation under Article 21 read with Article 14 guaranteed under the Constitution,” the Tamil Nadu depositors submitted.
They further urged the apex court to direct the Justice Govindaraj Committee to expeditiously make a list of depositors and the total assets, and sell the properties of Universal Trading Solution Pvt. Ltd. to disburse the proceeds to the depositors in a time-bound manner within a period of six months.
The depositors said the court must consider appointing one of the petitioners in the case as a representative of the depositors in Tamil Nadu, to facilitate communication between the victims and the Justice Govindaraj Committee.
The court issued notice to the CBI along with the Centre and the State of Tamil Nadu on January 6. It listed the case for hearing on March 16, 2026.
The petitioners alleged they were victims of a “large-scale financial fraud” spread across southern States, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They said depositors were assured 12% interest per annum along with the 10% of principal repaid.
“The depositors were promised that repayments would be completed within one year from the date of acceptance of deposits. However, by early 2019, Universal Trading Solution Pvt. Ltd. defaulted on repayments. It soon became apparent that the scheme was fraudulent in nature and the deposits were siphoned off and diverted for acquisition of immovable properties in the names of Universal Trading Solution Pvt. Ltd., G. Ramesh and his family members… It is pertinent to note that many depositors had invested their life-savings in the scheme hoping for better returns,” the petition submitted.
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